That Summer
by JulietteDeschemps
Summary: Sometimes life gives you exactly what you need when you least expect it. Lily Potter knew that even though nothing would come of it, that summer was precisely what she didn't know she needed but so desperately did.
1. Chapter I

**That Summer Chapter I**

Lily blinked at her bed curtains. The only light in the room came from the green glow of the lake through the big circular panels in the ceiling. A quick tempus charm told the redhead lying in bed that it was closer to morning than night and still, sleep came no easier for her.

She sighed, resigned that for whatever reason sleep just wasn't an option and sat up.

She'd spent the last hour tossing and turning before coming to the realisation that enough was enough. Yesterday she took her last O.W.L. and now she had only three days of class left before she took the train back home so maybe it was all the excitement of ending her fifth year that kept her from the Sandman's hold?

Lily fought another sigh at the thought as she pushed the green silk comforter away from her legs. She wasn't looking forward to going back to Godric's Hollow at all.

Okay, so maybe that was a lie. She did want to go home, it was just that she wasn't ready to break the news that she'd broken up with the sweet Lorcan Scamander to her family.

After the initial shock of their littlest being sorted into the big mean prejudiced Slytherin, her family was surprisingly cool about it. No tantrum to the Headmistress, no public declarations of disownment and no awful treatment from her cousins, but it was the day to day things that bothered Lily.

The snake jokes, the way they didn't stop telling horror stories about her friends' grandparents and parents, their obvious reluctance to let her go to the Annual Slytherin Ball and even the way she got lost when her cousins started talking about their friends and adventures in the Gryffindor common room and no one bothered to fill her in on the private jokes.

Lily had always felt her family's quiet worry for her. As if she was going to come back one summer suddenly turned evil witch, complete with a crazy, power-hungry look and evil cackle.

That kind of worry was quenched when she went home for the Easter hols with the news of a three month relationship with one of the Scamander twins. Sweet, Hufflepuff Lorcan, who was practically family and _always_ a good influence.

Of course they didn't know that Lorcan was the one who properly introduced her to the partying world of fire whisky, drugs and sex. Now she had to tell them that she'd broken up with him.

Lily pushed herself off her bed and summoned the grey sweater that matched the sweatpants she was wearing. She knew she wouldn't be getting any more sleep that night, so she might as well do something.

She pulled her dark red hair into a careless bun, put her wand into the waistband of her sweats and quietly left her dorm room.

Her feet were only covered in green fluffy socks that caught on the stone floor every now and then as she made her way through the dungeons. When she got outside, she finally decided what she would do until it was time for her morning run. The Quidditch pitch was deserted and dark but the shadows that the stands made didn't scare her. The summer night air was a welcome relief as Lily took her socks off to let her feet touch the cool grass.

She quickly got into the Slytherin locker room and grabbed her Firebolt 3000. This year with Emilia Bulstrode as Quidditch captain, tryouts had been opened for every position, opposing to the previous years when tryouts only happened for specific positions that needed filling. So Lily got to finally be on Slytherin's Quidditch team as their seeker.

Flying was one of her only passions and she made sure to work extra hard to prove to her teammates that even though she was a girl, she could still kick ass.

Slytherin won Quidditch cup with a team that was considered to be one of the strongest Hogwarts had ever seen.

Lily didn't even bother to look around and as soon as she had her broom in hand she was up high in the sky. Her adrenaline spiked as she performed her usual stunts, some of which were only possible because of the top of line broom she won when she joined the team.

She didn't know how long she stayed up there but when her feet finally touched the ground, the sky was considerably lighter. Slow clapping from behind her made her turn around.

"That was quite the show, Potter."

Scorpius Malfoy was standing in the shadows, dark jeans stuffed in black combat boots, white t-shirt tucked on the front and a cigarette hanging from his lips. The sight of him was enough to send a rush through Lily's body that had nothing to do with flying. She did a mocking curtesy and was rewarded with a slight upturn of the corner of his lips.

"Out after curfew," she tutted as she walked to join him underneath the stands. Lily could see him better now. His blond hair looked like he'd just rolled out of bed, his teeth shinned extra white under the moonlight and the cigarette was now between his index and middle finger.

"So are you," the low timber of his voice was dark and smooth. She hummed.

"Hmm, yes, indeed. But I'm not the one doing drugs." She was close enough to smell him now. The smoke mingling with the musky scent of him was positively intoxicating.

He was a conundrum. There in the middle of the night smoking a cigarette and in parties almost every single weekend, but no matter how much he partied, Scorpius Malfoy had been one of the top five students since his first year. On top of it all, Lily was pretty sure he would be made captain of the Quidditch team. He was a bloody amazing chaser.

"Yet," he replied with a positively wolfish smirk that sent heat straight to her belly.

Lily hadn't really had much interaction with Malfoy. Despite them being on the same house, he was a year ahead of her and the only kind of encounter they had until that year were fleeting ones in the common room. This year, they had more interaction because they were both on the team and they met once or twice at Slytherin parties, but this was the first time they'd ever been alone.

He offered the cigarette to her and they shared it in companionable silence for a while, both enjoying the rush to their brains as the sun rose on the horizon. He was the first to break the silence.

"I heard you broke up with the Scamander loverboy," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Of course you did," sarcasm dripped from her voice, "did you also hear that I had blueberry muffins for breakfast? Because there's this rumour going around saying that I had sausage muffins and that's just disgusting."

She turned her head towards him to shoot him a blunt look and couldn't help but let out a small huff of a laugh when she saw the amused glint in his eyes as he puffed the smoke.

"I take it didn't end well with him, then?" He smirked at her before handing her the cigarette. She took a drag and shook her head.

"No, it's not that. Things ended surprisingly well with Lorcan. It's just..." she watched as he released the smoke through his mouth and wondered how to voice her thoughts.

"You're tired of all the gossip," he finished for her. Lily nodded and took the cigarette back from him. The sun was rising above the trees now.

"Yeah," she shrugged.

It had always been hard for her to be so exposed to the media and to common gossip at school. She thought that she would be used to it at 16, but no. Everybody wanted to know what the Potter's were doing at every minute of every single fucking day and she was not any more used to it.

This year she'd learned that Slytherins were not just students who happened to be on the same house. They were actually family — quite literally, more often than not — who would never betray each other. Even people who didn't particularly like Lily kept their mouth shut about the things she did at parties. She guessed the reason for everybody being so close knit was that they had to have someone to lean on while fighting against all the prejudice. Lily was always proud to be called a snake.

"So..." she tried to change the subject, "what're you doing this summer?"

She could honestly kick herself. Could she possibly say anything lamer?

"I'll probably hang out with Felix and Alicia most of the summer," Scorpius shrugged.

It made sense. Felix Nott and Alicia Zabini were Scorpius' best friends. The three were called the Platinum Trio in comparison to her dad's Golden Trio and they were considered to rule Slytherin.

Lily hummed and turned her head in the pretence of looking around to hide the slight colouring of her cheeks. "What about you?"

Lily almost choked on thin air as reality finally set in. The hottest guy in Hogwarts was watching the sunrise _with her_ while sharing his cigarette _with her_ and to top it all off _he_ was asking _her_ about her plans for the summer? This must be a dream.

She quickly collected herself and tried to convince herself that he was just another guy. Just another really smart, really handsome and sexy guy. Just another guy.

"Gotta spend time with the family," she managed to say but her voice came more salty than she thought it would. He raised an eyebrow at her and her breath was caught in her throat because his hair was beginning to catch the golden rays of sun and, fuck it, forget handsome, he was fucking beautiful.

"Ah, I don't suppose they were too keen on the idea of their youngest being a cunning snake, huh?" Scorpius said sarcastically.

"Not really." She huffed a laugh as he lightened another cigarette. "It's not that we had some big dramatic fallout, it's just that we're getting more and more distant it seems."

"That's life, though," he passed her the cigarette, "children distance themselves from their family as they grow up." Lily shot him a sardonic smile.

"Very insightful of you, Mr. Malfoy," he chuckled and Lily had to fight not to swoon.

She was happy to see that it wasn't as hard as earlier. It seemed that as the sun rose she got more comfortable around him and started feeling less close to spontaneous combustion. The sun was almost completely above the horizon now and Lily knew it was about time they got going if they didn't want to risk getting caught smoking on school grounds.

Something came over her then.

She didn't know if it was because at sunrise things got this dreamy quality or because she was sleep deprived. It didn't matter what it was because at that instant Lily felt bold. So she did what she'd been wanting to do since he offered her that first drag.

She put one hand on his shoulder and took a drag with the other before letting the cigarette fall to the floor. As she rose to his level, she used the hand that was previously holding the cigarette to open his jaw before finally letting him suck on the smoke she puffed on his lips. She watched in fascination as he let the smoke out through his nostrils and the way his pupils almost covered the icy grey in his eyes. A small smirk was playing on his full lips, one that Lily was sure mirrored her own.

"I guess I'll see you later then." She flashed him another smirk before turning around towards the castle. She could just barely hear that delicious chuckle of his before she made it to the Great Hall.

That morning she gave up on going on her usual early morning run to lie in bed. After she got back she was finally able to fall asleep with his scent etched in her brain. She was proud of herself for making such a bold move and mostly for just keeping it together.

She knew nothing would come of this little interaction of theirs but it was a boost to her confidence that she didn't know she needed to see his obvious arousal.

Dating Lorcan had been eye-opening for Lily because she started going to parties and enjoying herself with another person. She had discovered a lot about who she was in the late nights she spent on his bed and realised sex was something she very much liked. Until now something had been missing, though, and Lily knew after her sudden struck of boldness that day just what it was.

Confidence.

The confidence to do whatever she wanted at parties and to approach guys and to generally make the first move. To not be afraid of being who she was. The confidence she didn't know she was capable of but had proven to herself that she had in her. It was freeing, liberating, and it was a real wonder how she got any sleep with her heart beating so fast.

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 _Hey everybody, new fic! In this one Lily is only a year younger than Scorpius and each of the Potter children have only a year on each other, so this is James' last year. Also, this story completely disregards whatever the fuck happened in the mess that was HP and the Cursed Child. I have this all pretty much mapped out so updates shouldn't take long. Rating's going up in further chapters. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter, see you soon ;)_

 _~Juliette Deschemps_


	2. Chapter II

**That Summer Chapter II**

Lily woke up to the sounds of her roommates getting ready for the day. She only had a couple more hours of sleep the night before but was feeling rejuvenated all the same. She got out of bed with an easy smile on her face and bid the girls good morning. They didn't seem to notice Lily's good mood but she wasn't put off by it.

She had never formed a real bond with her roommates. Sure she would join in on the gossip once or twice, but overall, Lily thought they were a bit childish. As the years passed she had started to hang out more with the boys in her year. Not because they were any less childish but because somehow they always seemed to be at the same place at the same time.

Lily took a quick shower and set to do her morning routine. She used her wand to dry her hair, letting it fall to her waist in natural waves before putting on her shirt and magically shortened skirt. The weather was so nice that morning that she couldn't bring herself to wear the uniform knee socks so she only stepped into her high-heelled mary janes and looked at the floor length mirror appreciatively.

She could understand why people thought of her as one of the top five girls at Hogwarts.

Her body was lean and she was tallish for a girl but still her boobs were a nice size and she'd heard some of the boys say that her ass was 'fantastic' from all the Quidditch she plays. Not only was her body amazing but taking a closer look you could see that it wasn't her only attribute.

When they were third years, Elliot Avery had declared himself to her with a poorly thought out poem describing her face as seraphic. He still couldn't look her in the eye, years after she gently shot him down. Her lashes were dark and long, framing big, almond shaped, bright hazel eyes. Her button nose and full rosy lips completed the look of an angel. Or so Elliot had said.

She was past the time she used to think little of herself. Sure she still had insecurities like everybody else, but she knew she was gorgeous and she embraced it, sometimes even used it in her favour.

Lily grabbed her tie from her bedside table and set to tying it as she made her way to breakfast. The Great Hall was packed. There were only two more days of Hogwarts before the 7th years took their boats back to Hogsmeade station and left for the real world.

The bitterness in the air was so thick it was palpable.

She considered having breakfast with James and Fred but thought better of it. Even though this was their last year, it didn't mean she would be welcomed at the lions den.

She sat with Charlie Nott and Will Montague instead. They were what she considered to be the best fake friends she had. Fake because their relationship didn't exactly consist of telling each other deep secrets and braiding each other's hair at the common room. They simply stuck together because their personality matched and, again, they always seemed to be at the same place at the same time.

She guessed that didn't make them any less her friends — she did go to Charlie's house last summer after all — it was just different than what she had with her real best friend.

Lola Dursley was five years older than her and her ultimate best friend. They were cousins but really, it felt more like they were sisters. Lily spent days on end on her studio in muggle London with Dominique — the only Weasley cousin that really had absolutely no problem with Lily being a Slytherin — and she learned a lot about muggle culture because of her. Lily shook herself out of her reverie when she saw Charlie's attempts at making small talk.

"Another year gone by," he sighed dramatically and Lily rolled her eyes as a tiny smile played at her lips. Charlie was the most exuberant gay she'd ever met and she loved him for it.

"Oh, here we go," Will rolled his dark eyes at Lily and leaned into her space to shoot her a killer smile. He'd always been playfully flirty with everyone he met but this year Lily saw herself actually considering something else with him. He'd come back to his fifth year all new sorts of hot with his asian complexion sporting a nice tan and amazing muscles he developed for Quidditch.

"What?" Exclaimed Charlie with a playfully offended voice. "I'm just saying, we just finished our O.W.L's. From here on it's N.E.W.T.'s then the big, scary world and we'll all be separated because of life and then we'll only meet again ten years from now and we'll all be fat and old and— "

"Alright, Charlie tone it down, okay?" Lily cut him off. "Deep breaths, darling." She laughed at his antics and took a sip of the Lady Grey sitting in front of her. "We still have two whole years to go and even then we won't suddenly stop being friends."

"Besides," Will said around a mouthful, "do you honestly think Lily's gonna be fat ten years from now?"

Charlie nodded sagely.

"You're probably right," he conceded.

Lily huffed indignantly.

"Why am I the only one who isn't going to be fat?" She raised her eyes from her french toast to her incredulous looking friends.

"You're joking, right?" Will asked.

"No!" Lily exclaimed, genuinely curious now. Charlie laughed.

"Honey, you're, hm, how do I say this delicately..." he put his finger to his dark jaw, light brown eyes shinning mischievously, "you're the fucking queen of vain," he finished bluntly. Lily gasped.

"Am not!" She exclaimed eloquently. Seeing their unbelieving smiles, she continued, "Would I be eating carbs if I was vain?" Charlie scoffed.

"You only eat so much because you are a freak who never gets fat."

"She never gets fat because of all that exercise she makes," Will raises his brows suggestively with a wolfish grin, "if you know what I mean."

Lily rolled her eyes and tried not to blush when they laughed loudly.

"Careful, love, now that loverboy is gone you can't be eating this." Charlie tried to steal her french toast only to have his hand slapped away by Lily who glared mutinously at him.

"You seem to have forgotten that I'm on the Quidditch team and have extensive workouts every week, dear friends." They only snickered at her. "Besides, I'm so not vain." She mumbled.

"Okay, so you're not vain." Charlie granted while Will continued to snicker. "Just tell me what you normally do in the mornings."

"I —" Lily started but paused to think of all the getting ready she did that morning, "— am not going to dignify that with an answer."

Their snickers turned to loud laughter as she glumly turned back to what was left of her breakfast. She looked around and saw that their laughter turned quite a few heads but only one in specific caught her attention. Bright grey eyes that she couldn't see from the distance but knew held blue flecks, shone in amusement as they locked to hers.

Lily felt her whole body warm up when he winked at her from a couple of seats down. She wondered if he heard what they were talking about and this time the blush was impossible to contain. She broke eye contact with him as her cheeks reddened.

Her friends were looking at her with surprised expressions on their faces when she turned back to them. She didn't acknowledge their looks and took a sip of her drink again.

"What was that?" Charlie asked incredulously.

"What was what?" She decided to play dumb but of course they wouldn't go with it.

"You just shared a look with the King," he insisted.

"I didn't just share a look with Malfoy," Lily tried to downplay it.

"Uh, yeah, you did," Will said incredulously and Lily glared at him.

"Are you two siding against me? I'm telling you it was nothing." They visibly backed off, Will even raised his hands as she glared at them.

"Alright, darls, if you say so," Charlie appeased her.

"I do. It was nothing." Lily forced herself not to look back at the blond Adonis and mumbled into her cup, "Nothing at all."

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The last two days went by in a blur of summer days spent under the sun and tearful goodbyes. As she leaned against the window of the train on the way home, Lily thought back to the past year. It was definitely a good one.

She got to experience her first puppy love and discover the pleasure shared between two people. She learned how to drink and party and that good relationships aren't always meant to last just because there were no fights. Lily felt like she'd grown up so much just on this last semester alone.

Her thoughts on coming back home were conflicted. She knew she wasn't looking forward to telling her family about her breakup but she did miss them. And then there was the minor detail of three months away from school work. She was definitely happy for summer, she decided.

She looked around the compartment to see Will sleeping soundly and Charlie reading the latest Witch's Weekly edition. They weren't exactly close, but Lily hoped they could meet each other during the summer.

The train was close to a stop now and she knew it was almost time to disembark. Charlie shot her a small grin and closed his magazine before getting up and stretching. Lily followed his lead and shook Will awake. His confused face was cute as he tried to figure out where he was.

"Nice nap?" Lily asked him amusedly.

"Yeah," he laughed and got up to take their trunks from the overhead compartment.

The trio walked together through the crowded hallway and stopped right outside the train to say goodbye. Will hugged Lily and she could see over his shoulder her whole family waiting for her and her dad and brothers' frowning faces.

"See you soon, Potter," he let her go and hugged Charlie quickly before almost running to his impatient parents.

"Owl me," Charlie hugged her tightly and she left to meet her family.

At their impatient looks, she quickened her pace to a power walk. Her mom was the first to hug her tightly.

"Hey, sweetheart." Her arms went around Lily quickly, but tightly. She then pushed her at arms length and looked her over. "Look how much you've grown."

"Hey, mum." Lily was getting uncomfortable with the tears brimming her mum's eyes. Harry saved her from the waterworks.

"Ginny, come on, I have to get back to work soon." He stepped up to her and enveloped her with his arms like he used to do when she was a kid. "Hey, flower, long time no see."

His hug was quick like her mum's, but both left her feeling warm inside. Of course the moment was short lived.

"Come ooon." James whined. "We've been standing here waiting for her for ages." Lily rolled her eyes.

"Slytherin's compartments are at the end of the train, James. It's hard to get past everyone."

"What were you doing in the snake pit, anyway? Shouldn't you be with a certain blond boy?" Albus butted in and wiggled his eyebrows while James narrowed his eyes.

Icy grey eyes flashed in her mind and she could almost feel his scent in her nostrils at the mention of a blond boy. Lily knew Albus was talking about Lorcan and she also knew that she couldn't let this opportunity slip by. It was now or never.

"Actually, uh, Lorcan and I kind of broke up."

There. Now it was out there.

Her mum gasped and Albus widened his eyes while James and her dad fought little grins.

"So the rumours were true," Albus said, nodding almost to himself. This made Lily angry but she tried to hide it behind a nonchalant facade.

"Oh, honey, are you okay?" Her mum asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, mum. It was mutual and we're still friends." Lily tried to change the subject, desperate to get out of this conversation as soon as possible. "Weren't you late, daddy?"

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A week later and Lily found herself back at Hogwarts for Jame's graduation ceremony with the rest of the Weasley's. The boys and her dad were wearing formal dress robes while Lily and her mum were sporting newly bought haute couture dresses.

The day after Lily got back from Hogwarts, Ginny had sprung an impromptu shopping trip on her. Apparently, she really thought Lily had grown over the past year and decided that as a mother-daughter bonding activity they would go out to buy new lingerie — not that anyone is going to see it, her mother had said, but it was still nice to look good for yourself — and a dress for the graduation ceremony.

So they left muggle London with their hands full of shopping bags and one of the most beautiful dresses Lily had ever seen.

It was floor length and had a slit that showed her right leg. The top was skin tight with vines and little blue and white flowers stuck to a sheer fabric so that it looked liker it was glued to her skin. The skirt was separated from the top by a thin black suede ribbon and it flowed around her legs in smooth grey-blue waves that reminded Lily of Malfoy's eyes.

She spent the day getting pampered with her mum and now her hair was pinned to the sides with charmed little flowers to match her dress. The rest of it hung in loose curls down her back. She was wearing minimal makeup and her nails were painted dark mulberry.

Her dad and brothers freaked out when they saw her in the dress but her mum actually stood up for her, saying that Lily wasn't a little girl anymore and that they had absolutely no say in the way she dressed. Sometimes having someone who grew up as the youngest to six brothers as a mum was great.

The ceremony inside the Great Hall was as boring as Lily thought it would be but she had to admit the house elves really went all out with the decoration. The whole place was filled with flowers and fairy lights and the ceiling reflected a clear summer night. It was all very beautiful.

Lily clapped dutifully along as James and then Fred were called on the teacher's stand to get their diplomas but was especially vocal when it was her friends from the Slytherin's team turn.

This, of course, earned a few ugly glances from her dad and uncle Ron but she didn't pay them any mind. She was damn proud of the friends that had welcomed her on the team and took her under their wings.

The ceremony moved outside where the house elves had set up a gigantic tent and arranged round tables for everyone to sit and feast while a band Lily didn't recognise played covers of the Weird Sisters. They were in between the Quidditch pitch and the lake and there were lights everywhere, giving the warm summer night a fairy tale vibe.

Lily had been listening to her dad, aunt Hermione and uncle Ron talk endlessly of their Hogwarts time while quite obviously avoiding using the words 'Slytherin' and 'evil' in the same sentence — even though Lily had heard them say it a thousand times before she was sorted — for the better part of an hour before she saw Emilia Bulstrode striding with a ridiculously happy smile towards her.

"Hey, Potter!" She bellowed jokingly as Lily got up and turned with a smirk towards her.

"Let me guess, pay thirty?" Lily joked back. She could see almost all conversation had stopped at her table and that her whole family was watching their interaction.

Emilia chortled.

"God, I'm gonna miss saying that to you!" Lily laughed with her and the two girl hugged tightly.

"I'm so happy for you, Em," Emilia let her go first and held her within arms length, tears brimming her eyes.

"Thank you, Lil." She quickly blinked away the tears and her smile grew even bigger if possible. "About the captainship for next year…"

"I'm sure we all know who's gonna get that badge, Bulstrode," Lily huffed a laugh, thinking about the blond that was the perfect choice for captain.

"Yeah, Malfoy is a cocky git, but he earned this." Emilia remarked. "I gave him specific orders on whom to ask to wear the badge when he's in my place, though…" Lily's eyes widened.

"Are you sure I could handle that?" She asked excitedly. She would be more than honoured to be Quidditch captain in her seventh year.

"Don't be silly, Potter. The only reason you're not getting the badge to wear for the next two years is that Malfoy is too damn good looking to resist," she jokes and Lily rolls her eyes, careful to school her features into exasperation and to keep the blush from her cheeks, because fuck yes, he was good looking but she didn't need her family knowing she agreed with Emilia.

Lily knew they were watching her closely and even though snap shots of their last encounter flashed before her eyes to sustain her friend's claim, she had to keep her cool. She didn't even have to reply, because before she was even done speaking, Emilia's eyes widened and her mouth parted in a happy squeal as she looked past Lily.

"Oh, sweet Salazar, are those mini cherry clafoutis?" She hugged Lily again and gave her a hurried goodbye and a promise to keep in touch before speeding after the magically levitating tray that held the sweets.

Lily was about to turn back to her family when she felt a pair of impressively strong arms go around her waist and spin her around. When the person finally let her go, she immediately turned around to see who it was and found herself face to face to Sebastian 'Greek God' Quintin. He was over six foot tall with wavy brown hair, light brown eyes, a nice tan and muscles to die for.

Sebastian was Slytherin's now ex-chaser and one of Hogwarts most eligible bachelors. And of course, he was Lily's unofficial big brother. He was the one who taught her how to drink properly and how to sneak booze into the school and even how to make a decent batch of sobering potion.

"Seb!" Lily jumped back into his arms and he guffawed.

"Looking good, Lil' P," he set her back on the ground and shot her his most charming smile.

"You too, love," she grinned brightly back at him and felt a pang in her heart as she realised he won't be coming back to school come next term.

"Hey, don't go looking all sad on me, Lils." He chucked her under her chin and grinned. "I promise to owl you from Ireland."

"You decided to stick to family business, then?" Lily asked him curiously, pushing her sadness away. This was a time to be happy and proud of him, not to let pesky emotions like sadness get in the way.

Sebastian's family were the owners of the 'exceptional smooth' Quintin Black, the most popular mead all over the continent. He'd struggled the past year to decide what he wanted to do after he left Hogwarts, not knowing if he wanted to move all the way to Ireland to take care of business and get stuck in one place. Sebastian always said he wanted to travel the world and see different things, so it was a little surprising that he decided to help out his family.

He shrugged.

"I found out a way to do what I want and keep my family satisfied. I'll stay in Ireland for a year to learn more about the business and after that I'll just focus on expanding our branches throughout Europe. That way I can still travel but will also be helping the old man out."

"I'm so excited for you, Seb," Lily felt like her face was going to split in half from the size of her smile. He kissed her on the forehead and hugged her tightly.

"Thanks, Lil' P. Promise to stay in touch, yeah?" They shared another smile and then he was gone and Lily was left to deal with her family who were all looking at her.

She knew it wouldn't take long before one of them started asking questions. She was barely seated when her dad began.

"Isn't he a little old to be hitting on a sixteen-year-old?"

"He wasn't hitting on me, dad," Lily countered. The whole table was watching the exchange nervously and Lily could see her uncle Ron looked as pissed as her dad did. She was glad her her brothers and Rose had left to socialise with the group of Gryffindors by the band because they would only add fuel to her dad's fire.

"He couldn't keep his hands off you!" A few people from the tables around them glanced at him at his little outburst so Lily fought to keep her voice down as she replied.

"It's not like that, dad," she glanced meaningfully at him and willed him to drop it. But of course he had backup.

"Like hell it isn't! Bloody wanker is what that s—" Ron stopped mid sentence but Lily knew what he was going to say.

"Snake?" She completed for him, raising an eyebrow, her whole face stoic. He opened his mouth, maybe to apologise, but she didn't want to hear it, "No, uncle Ron, it's true. He is a snake. And so am I."

No one said anything for an awkward moment. Lily knew now definitely wasn't the time to get into deeper stuff with her family, to discuss how much their attitude bothered her and how she felt so unwelcomed, so she let out a deep sigh and tried to put a stop to the pregnant silence.

"You should't worry about him, daddy. He's like a big brother to me," she saw her mother breathe a silent sigh of relief as she defused the tension.

"You already have a big brother, flower." She saw in his eyes that her dad knew she didn't forget uncle Ron's comment and that this wasn't her letting it go. Good, as long as he knew this wasn't finished. "Two in fact. Three if you count Teddy."

"Yeah, but it's not like we see each other that much in school, dad," she shrugged and Harry frowned deeply.

"What do you mean you don't see each other in school?" He looked so worried that Lily felt the need to amend.

"I mean, we see each other in the corridors in between classes every now and then… It's just, uh, their friends don't particularly like me."

"Why the hell not?" Her mum exclaimed incredulously. Lily shrugged yet again and tried to tell them it was no big deal with her body language.

"Well, I tend to wear green for class and they don't care much for that particular colour."

She thought maybe that was the wrong answer by how both their faces soured and their brows furrowed. But, really, what else could she say? She didn't care if her brothers and cousins didn't spend that much time with her at Hogwarts, at least not anymore. She'd been accepted with open arms at Slytherin and she could see it was where she truly belonged. She'd created her own loyalties there and everyone in green took care of each other. Even if she wasn't particularly close to any of them, she still felt like she had a family in the snakes.

Conversation began to slowly flow back to what it had been before but Lily knew that the slight scowls on her parent's faces and the failed attempts at going back to giving the big smiles they had been giving earlier in the night were because of what she said. She just couldn't find it in herself to be sorry for saying it.

This was their reality. They had drifted apart when she got sorted into Slytherin and they had to start accepting it. She wouldn't feel sorry for being who she was or for who she was friends with.

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 _Hey, guys! Sorry this took so long, this was probably the only chapter of the story that I didn't have mapped out and it was an absolute bitch to write. This was sort of a transition chapter, so not much interaction between the two of them but next chapter we'll start with the good stuff. I'm really excited about something I'm doing with this story that is creating a Pinterest file on it for you guys to see where I took inspiration for the characters, clothes and places. If you check out my profile, there's a link to my Pinterest account where you can find that visual aid under the 'That Summer' file._

 _I wanted to thank everyone for each review, follow and favourite. They honestly make my day, I hope you guys enjoyed this!_

 _See you soon,_

~Julie Deschemps


	3. Chapter III

**That Summer Chapter III**

The next week went by as fast as time away from school usually did for Lily. She met all her cousins, aunts and uncles once again at the yearly back-from-school Sunday lunch at her grandparents' house and actually got a start on her tan with all the swimming they did there.

She spent the whole time waiting for the ticking time bomb to explode and to have a huge fight with her mum and the golden trio, but it never did. They stirred clear of all things related to her being in Slytherin and she in return tried to keep her face neutral when her cousins began speaking about things in Gryffindor.

It worked so far and she didn't want to question this period of peace even though a little voice in the back of her head told her it was only the calm before the storm. Little voices had no right to say anything, honestly. She'd rather live in the pacific land of denial, thank you very much.

It was a particularly hot day and Lily was getting ready to head to muggle London, more specifically, Lola's studio. They haven't seen each other since Lily got back, so when Lola sent a text asking her and Dom to sleep over, she jumped at the opportunity.

She finished setting up a bag with things she would need, including a clubbing outfit and made her way downstairs. Albus was on the couch playing some video game.

"Bye, lil' sis," he sent her a kiss, but his eyes stayed glued to the TV. Lily snorted.

"Buh-bye, doofus," she replied cheekily and laughed at his protesting 'Hey!'.

When Lily got outside she plugged her headphones in her ears and activated the bluetooth on her iPhone X before putting it on shuffle as she headed to the bus station. She'd gotten the phone as a Christmas gift to herself last year and was rather pleased to have it back since she left Hogwarts.

She didn't have any of her wizard friends apart from Dom in any social media, but she still did some socialising with her muggle friends. She wasn't close to any one of them, though, so she mostly used any media to communicate with Lola. After she discovered her love and talent for photography, she decided to buy the newest edition because even though it was ridiculously expensive, it had a pretty awesome camera.

When Lily got to Lola's she quickly used her key to get in and was met with the loud bass of some rap song. She laughed as a loud squeal came from her right and Lola came bouncing into her arms.

"Oh my God, Lily! I missed you so much!" Lola screamed in her ears and proceeded to try and squeeze the life out of her. It didn't matter, though, because Lily was squeezing just as hard.

"Fuck, Lo, I missed you too."

The two girls let go of each other and shared big smiles. They haven't seen or even talked to each other since around Christmas because there was no reception at Hogwarts and Lily didn't own an owl so she could order it to stay and wait for Lola's reply letters. They spoke briefly during the first Hogsmead weekend after break, but all the ones after that, Lola had tests for her last year as an English Lit major.

Lola Dursley was a force to be reckoned with. Her blond hair, blue eyes and easy going attitude earned her many friends and opportunities and barely out of college, she was already set in her dream job. She'd spent the last year interning at a very well known publishing company in downtown London and this week was her first working there full time.

"Let me make us some cocktails so we can talk about what's been going on with your life and wait for Dom," the petite blonde skipped to her kitchen and Lily followed her at a more sedate pace.

They'd agreed for Lily to come right after the blonde got out of work so they could talk a little just by themselves before Dominique arrived and they started to get ready for their night out. They talked about every single thing that happened with Lily that last year — which was quite a lot — and all of Lola's new experiences at her job. When Dominique got there, the sun had long set and they were both a little tipsy and talking about sex.

"I still can't believe you had sex and I wasn't the first one to know!" Lola pouted for the hundredth time and Dominique chuckled from the doorway.

"If it's any consolation, I wasn't the first one to know either."

Lola squealed and ran to hug the taller platinum blonde.

"Dooom," she dubbled the syllables in her name, "how are you?"

"I'm great, Lo. It seems like you two started the party without me, though," Dominique laughed and Lily winked at her from her place on the couch.

"It just means you gotta catch up, sweet cousin of mine."

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They left Lola's about an hour later, fully dressed to impress and headed on foot for the new it club that was only several blocks away. The night was warm and the discomfort from their heels wasn't felt underneath the buzz they had going on.

Lola was wearing a tight black silky dress with a plunging neckline that made her boobs look amazing while Dominique wore some black super short shorts with a white lace top and killer high healed boots. Lily thought she'd really outdone herself with her look. Turns out her mum wasn't wrong about her growing up after all.

She was wearing a tight dark green miniskirt with ankle boots that matched her cropped top that was more bra than a proper shirt. It was in a light brown suede and only covered from her boobs to mid ribcage. It was tied with two long strings of the same colour and texture that went around just above her bellybutton twice before hanging from her back in a bow. Her hair was a bit curled and in a big sexy mess down her shoulders and her makeup was perfect. Dark smoky eyes and red lipstick completed the look.

The club was packed when they got there. There was a long queue outside the large big purple and blue duble doors but just one look at the trio and the bouncer let them through. The loud bass rattled their chests making Lily smile excitedly at the feeling. She had a feeling that night would be legendary.

The inside of the club followed the patterns of neon purple with details of blue from the entrance. Smooth sofas and some short tables lined the dance floor that was a gigantic square a couple of steps lower. The bar was on the opposite side from the DJ's stand, near the stairs that led to the dancing mass of sweaty people.

Dominique quickly sided up with some muscular muggle on the dance floor while Lola went to the bar to get them drinks, leaving Lily standing near the entrance, watching over the scene.

She spotted a flash of blond on the dance floor and her feet were moving before she could even think of a plan of action. He was dancing amongst the crowd of sweaty people flawlessly, his hair floppy and standing in some places, probably from running his hand through the sweaty strands.

As she got closer, she could see him better. How his black long sleeved t-shirt that clung so perfectly to his body was pushed up to his elbows; how the light reflected on his eyes and how — when the sparkle of recognition and surprise shinned on his grey-blue orbs — his lips stretched into a smirk.

His canines seemed bigger as they glowed pristine white, giving him a wolfish look. Lily was eager to be his prey.

He grabbed her hand and didn't say anything as a greeting, just spun her around so her back was to his front and pulled her flush against him.

Lily felt warmth spread through her body, starting from where he was touching her. His hands were on her exposed skin as they guided her to his rhythm. She could feel his breath on her neck as he leaned down to kiss her feverish skin.

Lily was so distracted from the feelings his simple touch was evoking in her, that she almost gasped when she felt someone slide up to her, hands on her hips bellow Scorpius'.

It was Felix Nott.

Felix with his dark silky hair, blue eyes and easy smile. He was Charlie's cousin and even though he was one of the most popular boys in Hogwarts — and part of the Platinum Trio at that — he always had a joke to crack and a smile to give.

Lily tried to be mad at his sudden freshness with her, but Scorpius was encouraging her with a movement of his hips and a squeeze of his hands and, honestly, she thought, fuck it.

She was pressed between two hot guys and she was bloody well going to enjoy it.

When Felix leaned down to let his mouth meet hers, she wasn't surprised. The moment his soft lips touched hers, Scorpius bit teasingly at the juncture of her neck and shoulder, making her gasp into Felix's mouth. He took her opening and slipped his warm tongue inside to caress hers and Lily couldn't help the soft moan that escaped her.

She felt rather than heard Scorpius groan against her neck, the vibrations from his chest transferring to her back as he ground against her arse, making her grind against the leg Felix put between hers in return.

It was a heady sensation, having two boys against her, each doing something to stimulate her. They moved in synch, their bodies undulating to the beat. Scorpius' hands brushed the underside of her breast and Lily let the loud music drown out her moan.

She knew he felt it, though, by the way he chuckled against her skin and ran his nose on a heated path up her neck until he reached the shell of her ear. He bit her lobe and pulled it a bit so she turned her head towards him, releasing Felix's lips.

Scorpius' mouth was instantly upon hers, devouring her lips and dominating the most heated kiss she'd ever had.

Felix didn't seem fazed by his best friend's possessiveness and simply kissed bellow her ear before whispering, "I don't think Scor wants to share tonight, red." He chuckled excitedly. "I'm going to get us some drinks."

Lily barely registered him leaving because as soon as he let her go, Scorpius turned her around. His hands spanned her back as he deepened the kiss and Lily was getting dizzy from arousal.

One of his hands slid up to her nape where he grabbed her hair and pulled it to better the angle of her mouth.

Lily had never felt like this. All the boys she'd kissed before didn't come close to making her as aroused as she was that moment. She'd thought sex with Lorcan was great, but even in the throes of passion, he couldn't make her feel half of what she was feeling with just one kiss from Scorpius Malfoy.

Scorpius leaned his forehead against hers and separated their mouths.

"Come home with me."

They were so close together that Lily could hear his voice clearly.

His words gave her pause, though. Go home with him? Even though she's never done the whole hooking up at a party thing, she knew it meant having sex. She barely knew him. Was she really ready to just jump into bed with him?

When the hand that wasn't in her hair lowered to her bottom and squeezed, all she could think was that, oh yeah, she definitely did.

Lily didn't want to seem too eager though. She was sure tons of prettier girls threw themselves at his feet. She had to play it cool.

"I don't think your parents will like that idea very much," she was proud of the steadiness of her voice.

"I have a flat a couple of blocks from here."

Well. If the only possible reason for her to say no wasn't a reason at all, who was she to refuse?

"Okay," her voice was slightly breathier than she wanted it to be, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

His lips fused with hers again, this time in a quick but passionate kiss, and pulled her by the hand to the exit. They passed by the bar and Lily shot a rushed 'See you in the morning!' to Lola before they left.

The cool night air made goosebumps rise in Lily's sweaty skin but Scorpius' heat was so close to her that there was no room for feeling cold. His large hand was clamped firmly around hers and she was so focused on how it felt against hers that she was actually surprised when he ushered her into a lobby.

The elevator was thankfully already there and Lily barely had time to say hello to the doorman before Scorpius pushed her into it. He quickly pressed the button and then his hands were on her jaw, tilting her head towards his as his body crushed hers to the wall.

Lily could feel the extension of him against all of her. The hardness of his arousal on her belly took the breath right out of her lungs. Their tongues battled heatedly for a while before the ding of the elevator interrupted them.

Scorpius reluctantly broke their contact, his eyes searched hers for something that he must have found because in the next moment, his hand was on hers, guiding her to one of the doors in the corridor. He unlocked it and before it was even closed, his mouth was on hers again.

His scent was all around her as she pushed his shirt up on his torso. She felt the tight muscles of his abs and salivated at the thought of them. They didn't bother to turn on the lights as Scorpius pulled the rest of his shirt off and let it fall to the floor.

He sucked on her neck roughly as he untied the bow that held her top together before discarding it behind him in an impatient movement. Lily moaned as he continued to work on her neck and fondled her breasts.

Heat pooled in her lower belly as she kept her exploration of his upper body. She raised a hand to his hair and pulled him back to kiss her while her other hand followed the soft trail of hair to work on his belt.

Scorpius groaned in her mouth as she pushed his pants down and reached over his boxers to squeeze him firmly. Her breath caught in her throat as she felt his girth. He was fucking _huge_.

He gently pushed her hand aside to take his pants off and Lily followed his lead, stepping out of her ankle boots. She didn't get to her skirt, though, because in the next second, Scorpius was taking her by the waist and stealing the breath out of her in a sensual kiss.

Lily wrapped her legs around him instinctively, one arm around his neck for extra stability as she pushed his boxers past his hips with the other. Scorpius walked them — presumably to his room — and pushed her against the door.

He used the wood as support and his hands went to bunch her skirt around her waist. He bit her lower lip while grinding his hardness on her soaked through knickers. Lily let out a gasping moan.

Scorpius supported her weight again and opened the door before walking inside and depositing her on his king sized bed.

Lily couldn't think, only feel. Her head was in a haze of musky spice and Scorpius, Scorpius, Scorpius.

He pulled her knees up, her knickers to the side, and in one smooth thrust was inside her. They shared drawn out moans as her legs came higher around him and he set a hard pace.

Lily's body was tingling with excitement, all nerve endings stimulated as he pounded into her. Her nails were on his back, digging in and most certainly drawing blood as he sucked on her neck so hard that she was surprised he didn't break skin.

His groans were almost matching her loud moans as Lily felt her climax approach. She could feel it coming, the tightening of her muscles as pleasure coiled tighter and tighter.

Scorpius pulled her hips upwards in a sudden movement and Lily was gone. She felt the tight coil snap so hard and so fast that she saw stars. She vaguely registered him coming but was so lost in a haze of pure pleasure that she only really came to herself when he was rolling to the side.

They laid there for a while, panting and still reeling from their orgasms until Scorpius finally turned his head to her.

"Hey," he said as she turned to look at him, "fancy seeing you here, Potter."

An incredulous giggle escaped her lips. They hadn't even so much as said hello and now he'd seen her naked.

"Hey," she replied lowly, her voice breathy.

They turned to lie on their side, facing each other contemplatively. Lily thought he looked magnificent.

His whole body was covered in a sheen of sweat, cheeks flushed and pupils completely blown out. He was too perfect to be real. Lily was so out of it that she didn't even try to suppress the impulse to touch him.

She raised her hand to trace the sharp line of his jaw and was rewarded with the slightest brush of his hand against her skirt covered waist. As if he remembered just then that he hadn't finished undressing her, his brow furrowed and in a swift movement he was on top of her.

Scorpius moved his lips down her neck in a soft caress. His tongue moved over where she was sure would be a hickey very soon in a sort of apology for his previous roughness. He continued his descent slowly, his teasing touch making her sigh.

The fire that had been sated just moments before roared back to life as he gently sucked her nipples into his mouth.

"What a sloppy job I did," he murmured against her belly button as he unzipped her skirt and slowly slid it down her legs.

Lily scoffed.

"That was far from sloppy, Malfoy."

Scorpius raised to his knees and discarded her skirt before moving his hands to the scrap of lack lace that was her knickers. He flashed a smug smile at her, his eyes shinning in mirth.

"You can say that again, love."

The carefree laugh that Lily couldn't keep in turned into a surprised squeal as his tongue replaced her knickers. The warm muscle delved inside her folds lazily, tasting her wetness eagerly as Scorpius settled between her legs.

It didn't take long for Lily to get there. She was so sensitive from her first orgasm that with one, two, three sweeps of his tongue over her clit and a particularly intense bite, Lily fell over the edge.

It took her a moment to realize the loud moans that she'd been hearing were hers. Lily felt Scorpius chuckle against her inner thigh as she regained her breath.

"Shut up," she managed to say. Scorpius raised his body so their faces were almost touching and she could see his smirk before they were kissing again. Lily groaned at she tasted herself on his mouth.

She wouldn't let him have the upper hand for long, though. Using the muscles of her legs, Lily pushed him on his back and settled on top of him.

"Pott - ah!" He couldn't finish his sentence because she quickly slipped him inside her in a smooth movement.

She began a slow grind, purposely clenching her inner walls. The gasp and drawn out groan she was rewarded with were positively sinful.

Lily felt so absurdly powerful standing there, over him, controlling his pleasure. She'd never been one to be wholeheartedly dominant or submissive. In fact, while with Lorcan she usually stayed on top. There was something about Scorpius that made the whole experience different, though.

This guy who commanded the room the minute he walked in. This guy who was a hundred percent dominant in every aspect of his life, including the bedroom — as she had evidenced earlier. The feeling of having him under her was heady.

She knew he'd been close from the moment he was inside her. Apparently, giving head was something that got Scorpius Malfoy all hot and bothered.

Lily set a hard but slow pace as the familiar feeling of an impending orgasm approached. His hands were on her hips, helping her move while she levelled herself on his chest.

One of his hands trailed up her body to pinch a rosy nipple, making her moan even louder than she already had been moaning as she felt the first waves of pleasure. His other hand was suddenly on her clit and then she was flying.

The orgasm crashed into her like a freight train, so hard and so fast that Lily felt like she was coming out of her body. She was almost sure a scream tore at her throat as she came harder than she'd ever come in her life. It was an otherworldly experience. She could only feel the hot waves of pleasure cursing through her body.

It seemed as though time stood still as Lily came down from her high. Her body was completely spent after their... vigorous workout.

"Fuck," she heard Scorpius exhale from beneath her. The giggle that escaped her lips was tired and lazy.

He helped her to her side and Lily couldn't contain the whimper that escaped her as he slipped out of her. She felt suddenly empty but was so sated that she couldn't find it in herself to be bothered by it.

The sweat on their bodies was beginning to cool, making Lily shiver unconsciously.

Scorpius covered them both with the dark grey silk sheets and pulled her closer. Lily was pretty sure one night stands didn't entail staying over and cuddling but she was just so tired and his bed was most certainly the most comfortable she'd ever been in.

She couldn't bring herself to move. Specially when Scorpius' arm tightened around her and he sighed, his cool breath ghosting her naked shoulder before his lips followed.

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When Lily woke up, she could see through the curtains that the sun hadn't been up for long. She felt warm and cozy and really tempted to just go back to sleep.

Reality crashed down, though, when she realised that it was a chest she was lying on top of. Scorpius' chest. She felt his hand slowly running through her hair, his cheek resting on top of her head.

"Mornin'," he rumbled lowly. She knew he was smirking without even looking at him.

"Good morning," she sighed and lifted her head to look at him.

He was ridiculously good looking first thing in the morning. His blond hair a perfect mess, his eyes already bright and, of course, smirk firmly in place.

"I guess that answers the question," she pushed herself up.

"What?" He asked, head rising from his pillow to meet hers.

"You do wake up with that smirk," she grinned and kissed him quickly before getting up.

He let his head drop to the pillow again and chuckled at her. She hadn't bothered to cover herself, so she knew he was appraising her body. Despite the slight flush of her cheeks from his attention, she wasn't embarrassed.

She was doing the same thing to him. Her eyes trailed from his chiseled jaw, down the strings on his neck, passing by his naked, ridiculously delicious torso to reach the tent in the sheets.

She raised an eyebrow at him and he merely shrugged.

"Mind if I take a shower?" She rolled her eyes at his smug grin.

"I don't know," he started to get up. Slowly, almost like a panther, he raised to his full height and stood in front of her naked, cock standing at attention, "Mind if I join you?"

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"Oh, shit!" Lily exclaimed as she jumped around his room, trying to find her knickers while putting on her ankle boots.

"What's the rush, Potter?"

Lily turned to glare at him from her place beside the bed where she'd been preparing to look under. He was leaning against the doorframe in a pair of white jogging shorts and a sleeveless shirt with black stripes on the sides. Arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

"I have to be at Lola's by eight so I can get my things, change clothes and take the bus back to Godric's before my family gets together for brunch," her voice was muffled from being stuck under his bed.

"Oh, I see. And what're you looking for, exactly?" Lily turned her head to look at him.

"I told you, I'm looking for my —" she gasped, "— my knickers. You _arse_! You've had them all along!"

His smirk grew exponentially as she got up and stomped her way to him. She tried to snatch the lace from him but he quickly held it out of her reach.

"Give it to me, Malfoy! I'm so late and it's the only thing keeping me here," she tried to take it again and this time he let her grab it but instead of letting go, held fast and used it to pull her to him. He kissed her before she could protest, long and deep and by the time he pulled away, they were both breathless.

"I can apparate you to your friend's," he whispered against her lips.

"Cousin's." She corrected him, matching his tone. "It's not far, I can walk."

She stepped away from him and he let go of her knickers so she could pull it on beneath her skirt.

"I thought you were late," he raised an eyebrow at her and she huffed.

"You don't owe me anything, Malfoy," they were facing each other head on now. Her head — even though she was in heels and wasn't short by any means — came to just under his chin.

"Neither do you, Potter."

She nodded.

"Okay."

He nodded back at her.

"Okay. Let's get going, then," he pulled her towards him by the waist, took his wand out of his pocket and asked for the address. Lily gave it to him and they apparated to right outside Lola's door.

"Thanks," she stepped out of his hold and shot him an uncertain smile.

"No problem," he replied, amused at her awkwardness.

"I'll see you at school, then?" Lily didn't know what the procedure for the morning after with a one night stand that she went to school with was.

"Yeah." He watched as she opened the door and slipped inside."See you at school."

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 _Hey, everybody! Here's a chapter with 4k words of pure smut. You guys don't deserve it though! I don't know what happened, but only a few of you reviewed and it made me really sad to see that... This story isn't going to be longer than 10, 15 chapters. I plan to keep it short and to the point, what do you guys think about that?_

 _I know it's a bore to say this, but please review, you guys. It's really what fuels my inspiration and the more you do that, the faster I'll update._

 _See you soon,_

 _~Juliette Deschemps_


	4. Chapter IV

**That Summer Chapter IV**

Lily opened the door to the overly excited faces of her favourite cousins. They were both seating on the counter in the small kitchen to the left. Dominique had a teasing grin on her fair complexion but wasn't nearly as hyper as Lola, who was practically bouncing in her seat.

Lily let the door close behind her and approached the girls carefully. She threw a little smirk at them and headed to the fridge to get some orange juice. She made her movements deliberately lazy, knowing full well they were dying to question her, as she poured the juice on a mug she took from the overhead cabinet.

"Mornin'." She drawled while leaning against the counter next to the fridge, facing the blondes.

"Morning?" Lola finally lost her composure and screeched. "That's it? You leave the club with some guy and only comes home the next morning, late and with a hickey the size of Africa and all we get is 'morning'?"

Lily was surprised at the mention of the bruise on her neck. She knew there probably would be one, but she had completely forgotten about it. She tried to downplay her surprise.

"Africa, really?" She set the mug on the sink and pushed herself off the counter to make her way to where she left her bag the day before, near Lola's bed.

The girls followed her as she began to strip to put on the change of more appropriate clothes she brought for brunch at her parents.

"That is so not the point, Lily! Tell us every—oh!" Lola gasped in surprise and delight as she saw Lily in only her knickers.

She pointed an accusing finger at Lily, forcing her to look down on herself. The redhead had to fight hard a blush that was persistently making its way to her cheeks. There were finger-shaped bruises on her hips that immediately brought back memories of the previous night.

"So," Dominique jumped on the bed, belly down, and supported her chin with her interlaced fingers, "looks like our little cousin had a fun, fun night."

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God." Lola squealed and jumped on the bed beside Dominique.

"Who was it?" The platinum blonde asked curiously as Lily started to get dressed.

"It was someone she new, or she wouldn't have left so quickly." Lola contributed.

"And a wizard because it was definitely an apparition I heard outside." Dominique concluded making Lily sigh as she finished getting ready.

She really didn't want to tell them it was Scorpius Malfoy's flat she'd spent the night. Not because she was ashamed or even scared of Dom telling her family — Lily knew she wouldn't — she just wanted to keep this to herself for a while.

"Who did you do, Potter?" Dominique asked, her curiosity definitely peaked.

"Can we drop this, please?" Lily pleaded as she put on her Adidas sneakers.

"Okay, fine." Lola conceded. "Just tell us how it was." She giggled excitedly.

"Amazing." Lily smirked wickedly at them and turned around to put her clothes from last night into her small leather backpack. "Four times amazing."

She felt her eardrums were about to burst with Lola's squeals and Dom's guffaws.

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Lily and Dom decided to take the Knight Bus instead of a muggle one so they wouldn't be so late for brunch. There were a few travellers already on the bus, all of them older wizards and witches, a few of them stared at their decidedly muggle clothes.

Lily could be an Adidas model. She was wearing their classic white sneakers, paired with a cap of the same colour and a light blue shirt that she tied at her waist and rolled up the already short sleeves. The only thing that wasn't from Adidas was her light washed cutouts.

Dominique was wearing a light blue sundress that complimented her eyes perfectly and both had their iPhones out, listening to music and checking their social media.

Muggle culture has been slowly more ingrained into the wizarding world but there were still sideway glances. Lily noted that those looks had been coming only from older witches and wizards.

When they got to Godric's Hollow, Lily fished her wand from her backpack and quickly did a glamour charm to cover the colossal hickey on her neck. She couldn't do it at Lola's because of the Trace, but now that she was home, she could use magic and the Ministry would be none the wiser.

"We're home, family." Announced Lily as she unlocked the front door.

She heard her dad call her through the back door on the kitchen and followed his voice to the garden.

The whole family was already gathered at the Potter's backyard, it seemed. Lily's dad was closer to the door on the griller with Ron and her grandfather while her mum was sitting on the large table in the middle of the yard with her grandmother and the rest of her aunts.

Bill and George were throwing a quaffle between them as Rose, Hugo, Albus, James, Roxy and Fred played an informal game of Quidditch, low in the sky.

Potter brunches didn't have a set date like Sunday lunches at the Burrow, but there were some unspoken rules. One of them — and perhaps the most important of them all — was that the official Quidditch game came after brunch, when everybody had been fed and was ready to give their best.

"Hello, flower." Her grandfather kissed her forehead after Dom and her crossed the threshold.

"Hey, Gramps." She gave a quick smile to Ron and hugged her dad.

"You're late." Harry remarked, his voice carefully neutral, but eyes inquisitive, almost suspicious. Lily fought a sigh.

"Sorry, Uncle Harry, it took me an awfully long time to get my hair to behave this morning." Dominique answered for her. Lily didn't wait to see if the answer would satisfy her dad. She shot an appreciative look at her cousin and headed to the table to greet her mother and grandmother.

"Hey, mum. Nana." She kissed them both on the cheek and gave a general hello to the rest of her family. It was a very tiring experience to say hello and goodbye to all her family members and they all usually just said specific hellos to their grandparents.

"Hi, sweetie. Did you have fun?" Her mum asked before handing her a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Yeah, I really missed Lola." She thanked her mother and took a swig of the ice cold beverage. It was a blessing to her parched throat and overheated body.

Lily sat between her mother and Dominique as brunch was served. Conversation flowed easily around her as usual. She was only drawn into it by her mum, grandmother and aunt Fleur — who was seating across from her — as the rest of the table listened to the Gryffindors go on and on about their school experiences. On any other day she would be annoyed by the topic of conversation on the table, but today Lily found herself not caring at all.

Her thoughts were much more occupied with images of a certain blond haired Slytherin. The way his muscles rippled as her hands trailed over the expanse of his abdomen or how his skin had been covered in a light sheen of sweat. How he felt underneath her, on top of her, _inside_ her.

Lily was suddenly thrown out of her reveries as she felt Dominique's elbow colliding with her ribs. She glared at her in protest.

"Aren't you going to play?" She asked with an annoyingly knowing shine in her bright blue eyes.

Lily turned her attention to the middle of the yard where her family was choosing the teams that would play against each other on their 'friendly' match. She hurried to where they were and made herself noticed by her mum and dad. As this was their house, they got to be team captains and to choose the players.

With the teams chosen, everyone took the time to get their brooms while Lily went upstairs to put her backpack away and to change into some light grey Adidas capris. She tied her hair into a high ponytail and jumped her way down the stairs from her room.

Ginny's team stood in one side of the 'pitch' with her, Angelina and Roxy as chasers, James as a beater, Bill as a keeper and Lily as a seeker while Harry's stood on the other side with him being seeker, Ron the keeper, Fred the beater and Albus, Hugo and Rose as chasers. They usually played with two beaters, but since Charlie wasn't there, Teddy decided to sit on the bench so they didn't have an odd number of players.

The match was brutal, as usual. There was and never had been nothing friendly about Weasley Quidditch. They always went all out, not only do outdo one another but to outdo themselves.

Bill wasn't a good a keeper as Ron so Ginny's team took quite a hit for the first half of the game, but Harry's team had no actual shot against too former professional Quidditch chasers. Ginny and Angelina made such an extraordinary team that for the second half of the game, Albus, Hugo and Rose couldn't even get the quaffle passed the middle of the field.

At the end it was between Harry and Lily. Whoever got to the snitch first would win.

Lily had never won a game against her dad before, but she was confident she could do it this time. Slytherin's training had gone off charts since Emilia took over the team and they practiced nonstop, almost every day of the week. That overwhelming schedule payed off, though, when Slytherin won Quidditch Cup for the first time in years.

Lily watched as Harry circled the pitch a few times. She knew her dad was fast and focused, so her only chance was to be faster and perhaps do something crazy. She was going to get to that snitch first, no matter what.

The sun was beating down on their backs mercilessly, the only relief they had a soft breeze, but still Lily refused to back down. She was close to her father when she saw something glint in the distance. She didn't have time to think, only react. It didn't matter if it was the little ball she was looking for or not, her broom was already speeding towards it.

Lily could see her dad in her peripherals as she confirmed that, indeed, it was the snitch. It was near a tall tree in the outskirts of the yard, barely inside the pitch. It seemed to sense the seekers were in pursue because it suddenly flew in the opposite direction. It didn't loose them, though. Harry and Lily flew flawlessly through the trees, then back to the yard. Their movements were so precise and fast that it looked as if they were water down a stream, constant and fluid.

The snitch suddenly began to rise high above, towards the clouds, and father and daughter continued to fight for it. They were head to head as the little golden ball began its descent, near the tree it had been initially spotted. They were both doing a perfect nose dive and Lily knew that if Harry reached over first, his longer arms would get to it first.

Time seemed to slow down as she looked around and considered her options. The tree is near enough, she reasoned in her head and with only a half formed plan she jumped off her broom.

For a brief, amazingly terrifying second she was free falling. Her body hurled towards the tree as she closed her right fist around the golden ball and reached with her left hand to the highest branch. In her rushed decision, however, she hadn't realised that the branch was too thin to hold her weight after such an impact and with a deafening CRACK it broke in two, leaving her to fall the rest of the way down.

Lily quickly extended her hand to where her broom had fallen and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Up!"

It zoomed towards her as she hit one branch after the other on her way down. When she finally wrapped herself around the handle, she was already too low to avoid the ground, but managed to pull up so that the impact wasn't what it would have been if she had been free-falling.

Lily rolled around the perfect manicured grass of the Potter residence with the momentum of the fall and came to a stop near the table. She could hear her grandmother screaming for her and all the brooms touching down on the ground, but none of that mattered because she'd won.

She slowly sat up and felt something warm slide down her forehead and into her right eyes, blocking her vision. With her left eye she could see her team members approaching and with a smug grin she raised her right fist in the air to show the tiny pair of wings that came from between her fingers.

"I won."

Nobody said anything for a while, but just before her Nana actually exploded in concerned rage, James whooped loudly and picked her off the ground and set her on his shoulders. The rest of her team cheered alongside him for a while before Lily asked to be put down. The world definitely hadn't been spinning a few moments ago.

Her mum supported her to one of the chairs and her Nana was already using her wand to close the wound on her head.

"That was way too dangerous, Lily." Her father exclaimed as he finally reached them. "What were you thinking?"

"She won, dad!" James exclaimed, his face so excited you'd think that it had been the finals of the Quidditch World Cup. "No one has ever won against you before, but she did!"

"She could have died!" Harry almost shouted, his face red and worried.

"Come on, dad, this is nothing." Lily tried to downplay her wounds, the snitch still fluttering against her palm. "You've done much worse to get a snitch."

"Harry." Her mum interrupted what was sure to be another tirade from her dad and raised her eyebrows at him. "She won."

Harry visibly sighed as he stepped back to let Victoire through. She had been a mediwitch at St. Mungus' for about five years now and was just finishing up her specialisation in neonatal care. She worked quickly and precisely as she did a quick check on Lily. When she asked what hurt, Lily almost blurted out that everything hurt, but she didn't want to alarm her father any more, so she settled for showing her left wrist to her cousin. It was almost black from all the bruising and probably twice its normal size.

"Oh, that's definitely broken." Victoire winced, her voice smooth and unconcerned as she assessed the damage. "There doesn't seem to be anything else too alarming, though."

With a swift 'Episkey!' her bones were set back. Lily cringed at the feeling, but didn't let out any sounds. Victoire used a spell to lessen the swelling and closed the wound on her forehead swiftly. Lily was told to take a shower and go straight to bed while Victoire flooed her and Teddy's flat to get a potion for her minor concussion and the bruising on her wrist.

Lily said a general goodbye to her family as she went into the kitchen, the sounds of her team still cheering behind her. Her mother asked if she needed anything, but she refused help and set up the stairs. She'd had worst bruises, honestly, and she couldn't risk her mother seeing the ones on her hips if she did accept her help.

Lily made her way inside her bedroom and stepped out of her shoes before entering the en suite bathroom.

Taking off her shirt was excruciatingly painful, so she tried to check out her back on the mirror. And there it was. A gigantic bruise on the middle of her back. She sighed and wondered if she asked Victoire to take care of the wound, she would tell her parents about the fingermarks in her hips.

She would have to try her luck, she decided as the scalding water from the shower head helped relax her muscles. The bruising could be something much worse and she couldn't risk it. Besides, Victoire may be the eldest cousin, but she was still a Weasley cousin and they didn't rat on each other. Right?

She wrapped herself in a towel and headed back to her bedroom. Victoire was already there, seated on her desk chair with a potions kit next to her.

"Took you long enough." She remarked, but didn't actually seemed irritated. Lily shrugged apologetically, but had to stop the motion short because of the pain in her back.

"Sorry." Victoire nodded and grabbed two bottles from the kit.

"This one is for you head," she handed Lily a blue vial that smelled absolutely foul, but Lily drank it all the same, "and this one for the pain." A green vial this time, which Lily promptly downed.

"Ugh." She rushed to her nightstand where she'd left a bottle of water before leaving to Lola's yesterday and drank all the contents in one gulp. The water was warm and old but it got the taste of ass out of her mouth so Lily didn't even bother to complain. Victoire chuckled.

"Yeah, it's terrible, I know." She took a small round container and opened it before dipping her fingers in. "This is for the bruising." She motioned for Lily to extend her arm and carefully applied a clear lotion to the skin on her wrist. Lily took a deep breath. It was now or never.

"Hey, Vic?" Good start. Casual, reminding her cousin of their bond by using her nickname. This was fine, maybe she wouldn't even see them.

"Yeah?" Victoire kept massaging the skin with the lotion until it returned to her normal skin tone.

"Could you take a look at my back?" Lily asked, forcing her tone to remain light.

"Sure. Turn around and drop the towel." She twirled a finger in the air and raised an eyebrow at Lily's hesitation. "Come on, little cousin, there's nothing there I haven't seen before."

Lily gulped, but nodded all the same and did as she was told. She could feel Victoire's cool fingers massaging her back and the exact moment when she noticed the fingermarks. She stopped rubbing suddenly and let out a small 'oh' of surprise.

"I guess it's not little cousin anymore." She commented lightly.

And that was it.

No scandalous screaming, or teasing comment, no nothing.

"Are you being careful?" She used the leftover lotion on her hands to massage the bruises on her hips as she kept the light tone in her voice. Lily felt a sudden surge of affection towards her cousin. Here she was, discovering her youngest family member had had sex and all she did was ask if she was doing it safely.

"I take the potion every month without fail." Lily assured her. Victoire stopped her movements and after Lily pulled the towel around herself again and turned around she could see she was nodding.

"Where did you learn it?" She asked seriously now. "Are you sure you're doing it properly?"

"A friend taught me." Lily replied. Victoire nodded once again and looked her straight in the eye.

"Do you think I need to teach you again, or maybe give you a batch?" Lily shook her head.

"I have enough to last the summer and when I get back to Hogwarts I'll make some more with this friend." She explained.

"Are you sure you can trust this friend, Lily?" Victoire frowned and worried her lower lip between her teeth.

"I'm sure, Vic." Lily smirked. "She's a housemate and takes the potion with me."

Alicia Zabini had been fixing her hair in the girl's bath before class when Lily'd rushed to the sink beside hers and groaned at the mirror at the sight of the hickey on her neck. The older girl'd smirked at her.

"Fun night?" Her bright brown eyes had danced in amusement. Lily snorted.

"It was. Until I realised that I had to keep refreshing glamour charms every bloody minute to hide this, that is." She'd pointed her wand at the base of her throat and whispered the incantation. Alicia tutted.

"That's because you're doing it wrong." She'd gently pushed Lily's hand aside and pointed her own wand at the love bite. "Try putting more of a swish to your wrist, like this." She'd performed the spell and leaned back to admire her handiwork.

"It's completely gone!" Exclaimed Lily happily. Alicia chuckled at her.

"This should last about six hours." Lily'd grinned at her in thanks and had been about to leave when Alicia held her back. "Hey, uh. I know this isn't strictly my business, but since we're housemates and, well, we snakes have to stick together, can I ask you something?"

Lily had been pleasantly surprised at the earnest look in the older girl's eyes. She was one of the prettiest girls at school with a mean reputation of being a total bitch to anyone but Scorpius and Felix, and yet here she was. This amazingly cinnamon skinned girl with her perfectly coiffed black hair, stumbling upon her words.

"Yeah." Lily breathed confusedly. The girl seemed even more embarrassed than before.

"It's just that, well…" She cleared her throat. "This seems like the first time you had to deal with a hickey and we all know that Scamander boy isn't exactly a saint virgin so… I just wanted to know if you were being safe." Alicia trailed off, an impossible combination of sheepish and determined.

"I…" Lily faltered. "That's extremely personal." Her eyes were wide, but not exactly accusing. She'd known before Alicia even replied what it was about. In Slytherin everyone was family. Even if you weren't particularly friends with someone, you would always stick by them and help them out. If that didn't compromise you in any way, that is.

"I know, I'm sorry." Alicia didn't sound exactly sorry as she found her confidence. "I just thought I should at least teach you how to make a contraceptive potion. You know, housemate obligation and all…"

"I — sure." Lily answered. Her cheeks had been tinged with pink.

"Good. Meet me here tonight during dinner."

And with that she'd been gone. Lily met with Alicia that night and realised that the girl was actually really nice, despite what other people thought. Their brief encounters after that weren't enough to determine her personality, but she really helped Lily out when she needed a feminine figure in her life, and she would be eternally grateful.

She was brought back to present time as Victoire got up and started to pack her things.

"Yes, well, okay." She handed Lily the container of anti-bruise lotion. "I'm gonna leave this with you, then." Lily nodded.

"Thanks." Victoire made sure to make eye contact with Lily, both of her hands on her shoulders.

"And you'll owl me if you need anything." She completed. Lily grinned at her and nodded appreciatively.

"Yes, I will. Thank you, Vic." She put one hand on top of her cousin's and squeezed. "For not making a big deal out of this."

Victoire nodded at her, seeming at an internal struggle before leaning to kiss Lily on the cheek. She grabbed her kit from the table and headed towards Lily's door. She paused just before she closed it completely after her and turned around to look back at Lily.

"Is he someone special?" She asked curiously, her voice lowered.

"I —" Lily stuttered a bit as she thought of Scorpius Malfoy. He was definitely something special all right. He was top of his class, an amazing Quidditch player and a talented lover. But was he special to her? Lily didn't know so she decided to go with the half truth instead. "He's special."

.

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 ** _Hello again! I'm so sorry for the long wait, y'all! Life's been absolutely crazy BUT I can assure you that I'm nowhere finished with this story. I have a lot planned for it and will not stop until it's finished._**

 ** _Friendly reminder that you can find me on Pinterest under the name Juliette Deschamps and see the board I created with visual aids for this story._**

 ** _Also, thank you guys sooo much for every review, especially the Annons that I couldn't reply... You guys rock! You absolutely make my day and help me stay motivated._**

 ** _Sorry there was no ScorLily interaction this chapter, but be prepared for the next one... That's all I'm gonna say._**

 ** _~Juliette Deschemps_**


	5. Chapter V

**That Summer Chapter V**

The following week, Lily went back to the club with Lola. They'd spent Friday afternoon playing Just Dance before they started to pamper for the night and now were both seating at the bar, chatting with the dark haired girl behind the counter.

Conversation flowed easily between them even though Liv — Liv Novak, the bartender — had to keep dashing off to attend to other clients. Lily found out the club was named Jack's. A bit unoriginal in her opinion, but she guessed she couldn't expect much creativity from a rich playboy who loved to party.

Jack Barnes was eighteen years old and the proud owner of the most exclusive club in downtown London. According to Liv — who Lily sensed had something going on with this guy Jack — Jack's father gave him the venue as a birthday present as well as a test.

If he managed to build a successful business with what he was given, he could help with the family business and get full access to his inheritance. If not, well, he had to go to a kind of summer camp with his dad to learn the ropes.

Lily was pretty sure his dad wasn't thrilled about what kind of business his son had decided on, but it was a very successful one. Very, _very_ successful.

Liv stopped shaking the drink in her hands and leaned on the counter between Lily and Lola. Her whole demeanour mockingly seductive.

"Hey there, big boy." She flashed her pearly white teeth and laughed at something the guy did before going back to her shaking. "What ya need, Scorpius?"

 _Oh_.

Lily didn't dare turn around as she smelled him. Musky spice with a hint of cigarette smoke and something that was undeniably him. She held her breath as she heard the low rumble of his voice.

"Noah is a terrible manager who shouldn't be serving the VIP tables." He slid an empty tumbler to Liv, "I should tell Jack to fire him."

With her heart thumping in her ears, Lily turned on her stool to face the blond standing between her and Lola.

"Figured you'd known the owner, Malfoy."

She relished on the look of surprise that crossed his features as he turned to look at her before a slow smirk appeared on his handsome face.

"Potter." He tipped his head as his smirk grew. He turned to Lola and took her hand to his lips. "The cousin, I presume."

Lily watched in fascination as Lola blushed and stammered before she decided to help her out.

"Lola Dursley, Scorpius Malfoy." She made the introductions and shared an amused look with Liv who'd returned with Scorpius' drink.

"Pleasure." He took a swig of what Lily assumed to be whiskey, his eyes meeting hers again and never straying. "Would you two beautiful ladies like to join me and some friends over the VIP?"

"Some friends?" Lily raised an eyebrow.

"Felix, Alicia and, of course, Jack." The specks of blue in his eyes were shinning particularly bright with the neon lights around them. Lily hummed.

"Jack, the owner." She cocked her head to the side as if she was considering her options.

"Yes, Jack the owner." His lips had an amused upturn.

"Lead the way." She conceded.

She shared a quick look with Lola as Scorpius led them both with a hand on the small of their backs. Her eyes were wide in excitement, the slightest of flush still on her cheeks as she mouthed 'Is this happening?' Lily failed to contain a snort.

The sides of the dance floor led to blue staircases that in turn lead to purple boxes that held the VIP booths. That's where Lily thought they were headed but Scorpius guided them around the dance floor to a staircase behind the DJ's stand.

Two bodyguards were blocking the entrance but quickly stepped aside when they saw Scorpius. The box they reached stood higher than the others and instead of clear glass, it was surrounded by two way mirrors giving it a perfect place to observe but not be observed.

The entrance of the box had drawn, deep purple, velvet curtains on both sides and the booth inside was a royal blue. The low table that stood in the middle of the circular booth was a shinny silver that reflected the lights from outside and held three drinks.

Right in the middle sat the definition of pretty rich boy. His hair was smooth and dark brown, reaching his shoulders and his eyes dark and intense. The smirk on his chiseled face mirrored the one Scorpius usually held in his.

Seating on his right was Felix with his usual good natured smile and Alicia Zabini on his other side. She was breathtakingly beautiful, as usual, with her bright red lips, tanned skin and seductive eyes.

"If when you said you were getting a refill I'd known you meant beautiful girls, I would have joined you, my friend."

"That's what you get for being lazy, Barnes."

Scorpius held Lily back and gently pushed Lola ahead to Jack's other side. He let her join her cousin before pushing himself up against her side, his thigh against hers and hand already resting on her knee.

Lily chose something simple to wear that night. A white sleeveless silk v-neck blouse that was tucked into black skinny, high waisted jeans and some killer black heels that had red soles.

She sent a mental thank you to Lola for picking out that particular outfit because she didn't think she could keep from reacting to his hand on her bare skin.

She shot him a sideway look but he was looking at the other occupants of the table, making introductions. Lily realised they were all watching as Scorpius' hand caressed her knee and slid just the slightest bit higher.

"So," it was Jack who spoke with a smug smile, "I'm taking a wild guess in saying that Lily over here was the mysterious redhead I saw you dancing with last week."

Scorpius only rolled his eyes at his friend and it was Felix who answered.

"I'll tell you what's mysterious, my dear Jack," he smirked teasingly at her and Lily felt instantly at ease, "Last week, I went to get a drink and when I got back, they were nowhere to be found."

Jack laughed as Lily's cheeks threatened to pink. Alicia snorted into her drink.

"All right, you two, enough teasing." She looked straight at Lily, "It's nice to see you, Lily."

"It's nice to see you too, Alicia." Lily smiled at the other girl, happy that she kept proving her wrong from her rumours of being a snob.

"You go to school with them, love?" Jack leaned a bit forward and appraised Lily.

"Yes, I do." Lily cocked her head to the side and wondered if he knew of the existence of magic like Lola did. "How did you become friends with Malfoy?"

"Our dads are best friends," Scorpius answered, "We grew up together, here in London."

Lily raised an inquiring eyebrow at him. His only response was a slow smirk so she figured he didn't elaborate because Jack had no idea of the existence of the Wizarding World. It was definitely something to ask him later, though. He grew up in Muggle London?

This new information hit her like a hippogriff. She didn't know anything about him besides his Hogwarts house and age. She didn't even know where they went the previous week. He said it was his flat but why didn't he live with his parents?

Lily felt anxiety trickle down her spine as conversation continued normally. She stepped into a surprisingly easy banter with the people around the table as she finished her drink, but still, the feeling of uncertainty persisted.

She felt his hot breath on her neck as his hands slid towards her thigh and squeezed.

"Dance with me." His voice was low and smooth and she couldn't think of why she was so anxious before.

She felt herself nod before her mind could catch up with her body. Scorpius slid out of the booth and pulled her by the hand.

"We're going to dance some," his hand was so hot in hers, "behave, kids."

"Are you gonna be okay?" Lily turned to Lola.

She was trying to be a good cousin and not leave her in any awkward situations with strangers. Still, it was hard to focus on anything that wasn't Scorpius' hand on hers or the heat of his body against hers.

Lola smiled assuringly while Jack raised his drink.

"Aye, she's gonna be fine, love." He smirked, "We're going to finish our drinks and join you two downstairs."

Lily barely had time to reply because then Scorpius was pulling her towards the stairs. The music was louder than upstairs and when they reached the dance floor, Scorpius used the hand he was holding to twirl her before pulling her to himself.

Lily laughed at the cheesy gesture. He guided the hand he was still holding to his neck before settling his on her hips and pulling her flush against him.

"I didn't think I'd see you again this summer." His lips brushed against her earlobe, making her shiver deliciously.

"You sure like muggle London, Malfoy." She could feel him moving to the beat and his hips gyrating on hers was driving her crazy.

"I was hoping you'd come back here."

His mouth was suddenly attached to her neck, making a soft moan escape her.

"I'm glad I did." She managed to say while he kissed his way up her neck.

"Me too."

And then he was kissing her.

His mouth was hot against hers as he bit her lower lip teasingly asking for entrance which she granted immediately. His tongue danced with hers heatedly while one of his hands buried itself in her hair and pulled lightly on it.

She didn't know how long they stood there, dancing and kissing, and she didn't know what changed but their kisses grew in intensity, their hands strayed and Lily was sure she'd be a puddle on the floor if not for his strong arms around her.

Thankfully, Scorpius seemed to have the same thought because he was suddenly pulling her out of the dance floor. Lily barely registered in her arousal induced haze that they were heading away from the exit and towards the bathrooms.

Everything was happening so fast but all Lily could feel was the hot throb between her legs as he led her to the man's room and pushed her against the last stall's wall.

Scorpius kissed her hard and his hands were rough as he ripped the buttons of her jeans. He pushed them down to her knees before turning her around.

Lily braced herself against the wall, the metal cool against her feverish skin while the sounds of Scorpius unbuckling his belt and opening his fly sounded behind her.

She started to take her panties off but his hand was suddenly slapping hers away. He pulled her panties to the side instead before pressing himself against her teasingly.

But it seemed he was in no mood for teasing.

"Oh, Merlin." She moaned as he slipped inside her, inch by agonising inch. He pushed her lower back down and brought her hips closer to his in a harsh thrust making her cheek press against the stall.

"Fuck." She heard him groan lowly as he set a pace so hard and so fast, she was sure she'd come within the minute.

He was filling her completely in that position, hitting her in all the right places. Her legs were restricted by her jeans so she couldn't spread them but she was just so wet that it wasn't a setback at all.

Lily slid her hand inside her knickers and just as she found the tiny bundle of nerves on the apex of her thighs, the doors to the bathroom banged open and a group of drunk men entered.

Scorpius stilled inside her and one of his hands left her hips to reach inside the pocket of his jacket to find his wand. Many feelings overwhelmed Lily at the same time. She was scared of being found out but he was literally inside her, hard and pulsing. The anxiousness only contributed to the raw want that was blazing an inferno inside her and threatening to overflow.

She could see from the metallic reflection of the stall door that he waved the wand over them in a wordless spell. As the electric currents of magic raised the hair on her arms, Scorpius slid out of her and back inside with such force that made her cry out.

She was moaning continuously now and the feel of magic in the air made everything sharper. She circled her clit in tight strokes before she fell.

The hot waves of pleasure cursed through her body as Lily felt him pulse inside her as he came. For a moment they didn't move but then he was pulling out of her and using his wand to clean them both.

"Fuck," she panted.

Lily tried to pull herself together but the sight of the torn buttons on her jeans made her frown at him. Scorpius simply fixed the problem with a wave of his wand, a strange look on his face.

He ran his hand through his hair, making it even messier than it already was before looking in her direction but not making eye contact.

"I, uh—" he cleared his throat, "— fuck. I'm sorry."

Lily raised an eyebrow at him. He just shagged her brains out, the sweat had barely dried on their skin and he was apologising?

"You need to know I don't usually fuck underage girls in bathroom stalls." He answered her silent question.

Lily just stared at him with a blank expression on her face. The image she had of Scorpius Malfoy in her mind was completely different from this sheepish man with a bit of pink on his cheek standing before her.

Huh. Who knew he would worry about things like that. Bewilderment must have fucked with her vocal chords because what left her mouth next was the symbol of eloquence.

"It was kind of hot, though." He seemed actually relieved, so she didn't bother being embarrassed.

He furrowed his brows, looking a bit lost and, again, it was such an unexpected expression on his face that Lily had to smile.

"Come home with me?" He mirrored her small smile.

She shouldn't.

She should just say, 'Thank you very much, mister,' and go back to Lola to enjoy their girls night. She didn't really know this guy and he certainly fit in the bad boy category with an undercurrent of danger that was just so... delicious.

She really shouldn't.

"Sure."

.

.

.

They left Jack's after finding Lola and Scorpius' friends on the dance floor and saying goodbye. Lily had felt stifled in her clothes back at the club, so the cool summer breeze was a blessing on her still flushed cheeks. She could actually see where she was going this time, her mind clear from the haze of drunken arousal it had been immersed in the last time they'd made the track.

The inferno inside of her had settled for now into a warm ball on her belly, a cat purring in satisfaction. For now, that is.

He wasn't touching her but they were walking close enough for her to feel his warmth. The silence they had settled in was comfortable but Lily couldn't hold off her curiosity any longer.

"You grew up in muggle London?" She turned her head slightly just in time to see the amused glint in his steely grey eyes.

"You've been dying to ask that, haven't you?" He fished a cigarette pack from his jacket and pushed one between his lips before returning the pack. "My father came to muggle London after the war," he used a muggle lighter to light the end of it, "he wanted to get away from everything, you know? Start fresh," he took a long drag and let the smoke fill out of his lungs as he spoke, "he became best friends with Jack's dad and when he decided to get back to the wizarding world he had already built a life here," another drag, "Malfoy Manor is solely on my grandparent's hands and my father has no intention of claiming it."

He offered her the cigarette and she accepted. The nicotine hit her hard, making her momentarily dazed, before she handed it back to him. She noticed not for the first time, that his hands were huge. Long pianist fingers with silver rings on them — his family ring standing proud on his pinky while his Slytherin one rested on his ring finger — and a tattooed crown on his right index finger.

She grabbed his hand impulsively, brushing her thumb against his tattoo.

"Slytherin's King." She mumbled as they stopped outside his building.

He let her look at the tattoo for a bit longer, his finger twitching as if he wanted to do something with them, before he took her jaw in his hands and directed her eyes back at his face.

His eyes were clear as he took a deep drag and used the hand resting on her jaw to open her mouth. She knew what was coming, but it still sent a shiver down her spine when he leaned down and blew the smoke directly from his lungs to hers. He didn't give her time to exhale before his tongue was suddenly inside her mouth, caressing hers slowly and sensually as she held the smoke inside.

Only when she felt she would pass out from lack of oxygen did he break the kiss, allowing her to exhale the cigarette smoke. She felt positively dizzy, panting hard as she tried to catch her breath and he looked completely unaffected, a small smirk on his face as he took one last drag of the cigarette before dropping it to the ground.

She glared at him. Cocky bastard.

He guided her to the lobby with a hand on her waist and introduced her to his doorman. He was a young man named Bobbie that stood short and plump with an extremely friendly face. He only had time to say a hasty goodnight before Scorpius was guiding her inside the elevator.

"Why don't you live with your parents?" She cringed internally and hoped he didn't think she was too nosy. He didn't seem fazed though so she forced herself to relax.

"They thought I should take more responsibilities." He rolled his eyes and Lily guessed this was a current issue in the Malfoy household. "When I turned 17, they gave me this flat and told me that they'd only pay the first few months of taxes before I had to find a way to make it work. Apparently it was a plot to get me to start working at Malfoy International."

They stepped out of the elevator and he led her to the door at the end of the hall before opening it with actual keys and not his wand.

"I take it you don't want to take after the family business?" She stepped passed him and into the entrance hall of his flat while he turned on the lights. The hall had only a small table which he deposited his keys and nothing else.

"It's not that." He waved her to follow him to the living room. "I actually don't mind the work and will most certainly inherit it someday. I just wanted to enjoy my life a bit more before having to settle down."

The living room was, for lack of a better word, empty.

It was a somewhat spacious room with wooden floors and brick walls that bled into an equally bare kitchen. The only type of furniture in the room was a grey L-shaped sofa that faced a flatscreen and a fireplace on the opposite wall. There weren't even any curtains and the lights on the ceiling were probably from a previous owner.

"It's, uh, minimalist." The dry tone of her voice made him snort in amusement.

"I still haven't gotten around to do the necessary shopping." He shrugged and Lily raised an eyebrow at him.

"Meaning you've been lazy."

"Not lazy. I just wanted to save expenses on a personal decorator, so I figured I'd do it in my own time." Lily sniggered.

"Seems like you might need some help." She followed him passed the kitchen that held only a fridge, a burner and wooden cabinets into a hallway.

"Is that an offer?"

"Maybe." She smirked at him.

He opened a door but didn't make to go in.

"This is my future study. For now, it only has a desk." He gave her time to look around before pushing her towards the door on the other end of the hallway. "And this is my room."

It was big.

Well, bigger than the last room at least, and the most decorated part of the house. The floor was the same light wood as the rest of the place, walls made of brick and old lights but the rest of it was pretty modern.

In the center of the room sat the California King sized bed, haphazardly made with dark grey silky sheets that Lily knew for a fact to be the softest. Just the sight of it made Lily flush.

She caught Scorpius' knowing look but decided to ignore it and focus on her surroundings instead.

There were glass sliding doors that matched the same ones she saw at the living room on the left wall which she assumed led to a balcony and next to it a bedside table that gave Lily pause.

There was an iPhone on top of it.

She didn't know why that was such a surprise anymore. From the look of things, Scorpius was probably more immersed in muggle culture than she was and definitely more than her family. She still made her way towards it in excitement.

"You have a phone." She picked it up and looked at the lock screen picture. It was Scorpius, Felix and Alicia eating colourful ice cream with a wall full of roses behind them.

"Obviously," he came behind her and used his fingerprint to unlock it, "you should add your phone number. Assuming you have one, that is."

"Of course I do." She put her number in it and took the opportunity to look at his apps. She saw Snapchat and figured it would lead to some fun photo exchange in the future, so she added herself. "There."

She turned around and came face to face with him.

He hadn't touched her since they got into the flat and his constant nearness was already threatening to drive her insane.

Scorpius slowly raised a hand to her jaw, his touch feather light as he caressed it. Lily could see his pupils dilating as his eyes focused on her lips.

"Take of your clothes and wait here."

A breath whooshed out of her in an almost whimper at his command. She had to close her eyes against the intensity of the feelings that had suddenly overwhelmed her.

She could distantly hear him in the bathroom and the sound of running water but her ears seemed to be filled with cotton. The only thing she could focus on was the low timbre of his voice as he ordered her to take her clothes off.

She didn't know a command like that could be so hot.

She did as she was told, slowly stepping out of her heels and sliding off of her jeans. The air came into contact with her drenched knickers, making her hold in a gasp.

Lily took off her blouse and tried not to feel self-councious. She folded her clothes and put it on his bed with his phone, unsure if she should take everything off or not.

She didn't hear him coming but his warmth reached her before his fingers did. He slowly eased the straps of her bra down her shoulders as he ran his nose from her jawline to her neck.

"Take everything off." His voice was but a murmur, languid and warm.

She hurried to comply to him, her hands trembling so much she could hardly unhook her bra. The fabric caught on her pebbled nipples on its way down, making her gasp.

She tried to take her panties off but just like earlier in the night, he pushed her hands aside and did it himself. He took his sweet time sliding the piece of fabric down her legs before standing to his full height behind her and letting her step out of them.

Lily could feel her belly quiver in anticipation as she stood with her back to him, completely naked. His breath was hot on her neck and her whole body was filled with goosebumps because of it.

"Turn around." Another command that sent a shiver down her spine. One that he definitely noticed if his face was anything to go by. "You like that, don't you?"

"Like what?" She rasped. His smirk was nothing short of devilish as he stepped closer to her.

"You like me ordering you." He lowered his head enough so that his next words were whispered in her ear. "We're gonna have so much fun."

The low chuckle he emitted was lost in the sound of her gasp as he closed his teeth around her earlobe. His hands encircled her waist before sliding down to her ass and squeezing.

He pulled her flush against him to let her feel the effect she had on him. A soft moan escaped her as she realised just how hard he was.

She raised her hands to his hair and forced his head to turn to her so she could kiss him but what the kiss compensated in intensity it lacked in durability. He quickly pulled away and motioned for her to follow him into the bathroom.

He shed his jacket and shirt on his way and by the time they'd closed the door behind them, he was already sliding off his belt.

The bathroom was probably the most lavish part of the flat. A huge whirlpool tub stood a few steps up from the floor, a glass shower stall that could easily fit about six people, enormous mirror on the wall and a fancy sink and cabinets. Everything was tones of white and beige with accents in gold.

Lily felt her heart flutter when she saw that the tub was filled with bubbles.

"Are you giving me a bubble bath?" She asked jokingly but his face was serious as he nodded.

"It's the least I can do."

Lily suddenly got it. This was his way of apologising for fucking her in a bathroom stall. If it wasn't so ridiculous that he felt he should apologise for that she would be a puddle on the floor right now. Instead she rolled her eyes.

"You don't have to feel guilty about it." She turned to him and felt empowered by his appraising look. "I wanted you to fuck me in that stall, Malfoy. Stop acting like you forced me."

Lily stepped closer to him and trailed her hand slowly from the sides of his neck to his waistband before slowly opening his fly. Taking off his pants so he could join her had been her previous intent but now that she was so close to him, she couldn't bring herself to not kiss him.

So kiss him she did. Slow and sensuous as her hands worked on divesting him of his jeans and boxers.

When she finally wrapped her hand around him — silky smooth skin covering hard steel — and squeezed, he groaned against her lips. It was so overwhelming, the sinful sounds of his moans and the feeling of his tongue battling with hers, she just wanted more. More of him.

She wanted to taste him.

So she slowly fell to her knees and guided him to her mouth. The salty taste of his precum was enough to make even more heat pool between her thighs.

"Fuck." He mumbled as she swirled her tongue around his head before gliding it along his slit.

His hands found her hair and he grasped at her roots as she engulfed all of him. She felt his head hit the back of her throat and tried to remember what Lorcan had taught her on how not to gag.

Taking deep breaths through her nose, she gently sucked on him as she worked her way back up. Lily looked up at him as she found her rhythm and the sight of him was enough to make her moan around his cock.

His chest was heaving, all muscles clenched and cheeks flushed. His head was thrown back but then he finally looked down at her and made eye contact and she groaned at the look on his face.

"Holy fuck." He panted.

Lily knew he was getting close so she cupped his balls gently, making him moan louder than before. It only took one particularly vigorous sweep of her tongue on the underside of his head to make him come.

Lily felt his warm seed sliding down her throat and his hands tightening on her hair. She continued to work him lightly with her hands before he finally came down from his high and guided her up by the hold he had on her hair.

The kiss that followed was mind-blowing.

"Fuck, you're bloody amazing." The adoring look on his face and the amazement in his voice was enough to make her chest fill with pride.

She had done this to him. Reduced Scorpius Malfoy, Slytherin's King, Hogwarts' resident bad boy, stone cold man, into this bright eyed, cheeks flushed boy.

The feeling was exhilarating.

"People say that a lot, actually." She smiled coyly at him before finally making her way to the tub.

His low chuckle — more relaxed than she had ever heard him — followed her as she sat herself on the hot water. Her muscles relaxed as he sat behind her, both legs on either side of her and arms immediately going around her waist and pulling her to him.

She sighed in contentment as he nudged her ear with his nose before bitting and licking his way down her neck. His left hand slid up her torso to play with one nipple while the other went down.

He nudged her folds apart to slip two fingers inside her while his thumb rubbed tight little circles around her clit. Just as her moans escalated, he folded the fingers inside her, hitting a spot that made her see stars.

She had been so fucking wet and just so fucking ready that it didn't take much for her to come. The familiar waves cursed through her body lazily almost like the waves of the ocean as she leaned back on his chest.

They stayed peacefully there for a while, one of his hands running through her wet strands while the other trailed over her ribs soothingly. Lily tried hard to think of a time where she'd been this calm, but she couldn't.

"My parents are spending the next week in Paris," he said lowly, "I'm throwing a little party for Alicia on her birthday next Friday."

Lily turned her head to his, her nose bumping on his jaw as she lazily grinned at him.

"Is this an invitation?" He sniggered.

"Yeah."

"Sure."

"Okay."

When the water ran cold, they slowly dried themselves up and Scorpius gave her one of his shirts to wear before they headed to the kitchen. He made them some tea before they both settled on the bed, talking and drinking tea on opposites ends.

She knew by the clock on his phone that it was very late and she probably should get going but she was still drifting on the lazy wave their bath had put her in and when he asked her to stay she couldn't say no.

She fell asleep with her head on one of his many pillows, his hand on her hip and his scent all over her.

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 _Hey everyone! Sorry for the long wait but here it is! Hope y'all enjoyed it and rest assured that the next one will come much sooner than this one did! I can't stress this enough you guys, checking out my That Summer folder in Pinterest is gonna be a huge visual aid for this story. I keep it constantly updated with the story so go check it out! Thanks everyone who reviewed, followed and favourited this piece, you guys truly inspire me!_

 _On that note, why don't you give me your thoughts? Let me know what you'd like to see, what you hate about this story, what you love about it._

 _See you guys soon!_

 _~ Juliette Deschemps_


	6. Chapter VI

**That Summer Chapter VI**

Lily woke up the next day already sweaty. The sun was beating down on where she lay between fluffy pillows and silky sheets mercilessly. She groaned in annoyance and tried to shield her eyes with her arms.

"Close the bloody curtains, Malfoy." She grumbled.

"There are no curtains." Comes the muffled reply from the other side of the bed.

Lily opens her eyes a fraction to see through her lashes that he was on his stomach, sheets low on his waist and a pillow covering his head. They managed to stay on opposites sides of the bed as they slept and for that Lily was glad.

She didn't know how she'd deal with waking up cuddled with him again. What would it mean if they fell asleep next to each other and woke up tangled like, well, like lovers? This was better, less complicated.

She sighed heavily and brushed the sleep out of her eyes.

"I should go." She slowly pushes herself to a seating position and tries to think of where she put her clothes. He grumbles something from beneath his pillow fortress as she spots her clothes in a pile on the floor.

"It's way too fucking early, go back to sleep."

She was tempted, yes, but from how bright it already was, she didn't think she had much of the day left and she really wanted to spend some quality time with Lola. So she got up and started to put her clothes back on.

"Mind if I make myself some coffee?" She asked while pulling on her blouse.

Scorpius groaned again but turned around and sat up to look at her. His hair was the sexiest tousled thing she'd ever seen.

"I'll make you some." He stretched and got up completely.

Lily had to pause her task of putting on her heels to look at him. The way the sun reflected on his slightly tanned skin was sinful. Taught lean muscles all over his body and an impressive morning wood greeted her. He found his boxers and turned with a raised eyebrow to her.

"See something you like?" His tone of voice was flat but his face was set in an almost smile.

Lily knew he was hoping to get a reaction out of her, to make her blush, but she wasn't one to get easily flustered. She raised an eyebrow back at him and flashed him a grin.

"Why the fuck else would I be here?"

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Lola was, of course, already awake when Lily got there. Scorpius apparated her to the doorstep again because she was in no mood to walk around in the sun in the clothes she was wearing.

No squeal greeted her this time, but her cousin was cuddled in her bed with an ice cream bowl and a Cheshire grin.

"Scorpius Malfoy, huh?" Her grin grew impossibly large as Lily dropped on the bed next to her. "That's a mouthful."

"Oh, you bet your ass he is." Lily wiggled her brows suggestively at her cousin and the both of them laughed merrily.

"Tell me everything!" The blonde exclaimed and payed no mind when Lily stole a spoonful of ice cream.

"What do you wanna know?" Lily shrugged.

"He goes to school with you, right? He seems older." Lola inquired.

"He's a year older than me, same house."

Lola found out about the existence of the magical world in Lily's second year at Hogwarts, when her little brother turned out to be a wizard. Her family started hanging around the Potters much more during that time and the two of them became the best of friends where once they'd been only cousins who saw each other once or twice a year.

"Why didn't you tell me and Dom?" Lola looked at Lily curiously.

"It's complicated." The witch shrugged again. "Doesn't the surname Malfoy ring a bell?" She watched as understanding downed in Lola's face.

"Oh, yeah." She nodded. "The war, right? They were on the wrong side."

"Yep," she popped the 'p', "his dad is my dad's archenemy."

"You think Dom would tell?" Lola squinted her eyes disbelieving.

"Not really." Lily tried to explain. "I just don't want this to become a thing, you know?"

Lola didn't seem to understand which Lily didn't really expect her to. _She_ didn't even understand it. Her cousin nodded all the same.

"Yeah, I know."

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Breakfast at the Potter house was almost always taken together. There were no guarantees that Harry and Ginny would have time to make it back in time for lunch or dinner most of the days so it was almost tradition for the Potter siblings to be up early.

Lily chose the day of the party to broach the subject of 'spending the night at Lola's' with her parents. Ginny had no problems with her going but her dad seemed to think otherwise.

"Don't you spend a little too much time with her?" He frowned as he looked at her. "You barely spend any time with your family. You've been back for a while now and I haven't seen much of you."

"Dad, Lola's my cousin, so technically she's family." Lily tried to be sensitive, "And I'm trying to enjoy my summer with my best friend, okay?"

Well, that didn't come out all that sensitive.

"She's a teenage girl, Harry. She doesn't get to see her best friend while she's at school, let her go have fun." Her mum thankfully intervened, shooting a look to her dad.

She could see the exact moment her dad caved. His shoulders slumped as he sighed loudly. One didn't say no to Ginny Weasley and lived to tell the tale.

"All right, I suppose," he ran a hand through his hair, "but I want you home for brunch and no being late."

Lily grinned at him and exchanged amused glances with her mum.

"You got it, daddy-o."

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"I don't have anything to fucking wear!" She shrieked in frustration while another dress got dumped on top of her unmade bed.

"Calm down, L," Lola laughed from the Face Time connection on Lily's laptop, "you have plenty to wear."

"Don't you bloody laugh at me, you unhelpful little shit." Lily mumbled with her head stuck inside her wardrobe.

She spent the afternoon prepping for the party with Lola on Face Time but now had come the time to choose what to wear and it was like all her good clothes just vanished into thin air. Another dress went flying towards her bed but this one missed and fell to the floor.

"Stop looking for dresses, okay?" Lola sipped some wine on the other end, "It didn't sound like a fancy thing, just tone it down a little."

Lily stopped her frantic movements and turned around to look at the laptop screen that stood amongst piles of her dresses.

"Help me, I'm fucking begging you, La," she pleaded.

Her cousin giggled and rolled her eyes at how dramatic she was being. "Go with that new red skirt of yours."

Lily dug through the pile and swiftly put to skirt on when she found it. It was high-waisted and clung to her figure like a glove. Five small golden buttons lined the centre.

"Ok," Lily said as she closed the buttons, "what else?"

"I think you're ready," Lola grinned at her. Lily shot her a scathing look that made her laugh. "Ok, calm down, Jesus. Just put on a simple black top and pair it with your leather jacket."

"Hm," Lily humphed at her cousin's joke but put the items she instructed nonetheless.

She had to admit she was feeling pretty good in the outfit and it was all thanks to her, so she tried to tone her annoyance down a little. She knew she was PMS-ing but she couldn't do much with the information. Lily put on a pair of black ankle boots and moved to choose some accessories.

"Good?" Lola asked before taking another sip of her wine.

"Yeah," Lily secured some bracelets and turned to her, "thanks, Lola and sorry for the grumpiness."

"You're fine, honey." She waved her off. "Have fun, okay?

"I will," Lily smiled at her, already feeling ten times better, "see you later tonight."

"See ya," and with a wave she turned the connection off.

Lily grabbed her keys to Lola's and her phone before turning her lights off and closing her door. She called her goodbyes to her parents but didn't pause to actually talk to them least her father try to keep her home.

She took the bus to Leaky Cauldron's. She couldn't just floo to Malfoy Manor from her house because both of her brothers were at home that Friday night and the invitation said specifically to travel by floo, so she could't take the Knight Bus.

There was also the fact that word could get around vey fast that she went to Malfoy Manor. She'd seen her pictures riding the Knight Bus on Witch Weekly way too many times before. She could only imagine the type of conversation that would ensure in the Potter's household.

Old Tom waved at her from behind the bar and a sudden idea struck her. Would he rat her out? She made her way to him.

"Anything to drink, Miss Potter?" his old age was betrayed only by the colour of his hair and moustache, eyes still shinning particularly bright and… knowing?

Lily narrowed her own eyes at that even as a disarming smile graced her features.

"Please, Tom, call me Lily."

"Very well, Miss Lily," he pours her a glass of firewhisky.

"I'm not of age yet," Lily furrowed her brows in confusion.

"This can stay between an old Slytherin and his fellow housemate," he winked at her and gently nudged the tumbler in her direction.

Lily hesitated for a moment before her hand closed around the cool glass.

"I didn't know you were a Slytherin," she sipped the amber liquid and sighed as she felt the familiar burn go down her throat.

"Not a very popular one, such as yourself," he looked at her from behind bushy eyebrows, "but I still learned what means to be part of he house."

Lily nodded at him as he excused himself to go attend the other end of he bar. She didn't need him to elaborate. He wouldn't rat on her because Slytherins didn't go against each other.

Old Tom went back to his post in front of her and set to cleaning some glasses.

"I thought aunt Hannah would be here," Lily feigned interest in her nails, the red gleaming darkly in the candle lit room.

"No, you didn't." He chuckled. "You knew she only starts her shift at eight, It's why you made sure to get here an hour before that."

Lily couldn't help the little smirk that stretched her lips. Tom might be her grandfather's age, but he was certainly using his white hair and friendly smile to disguise how far from old he truly was.

"Touché." She raised her glass to him before taking another sip.

"I assume you want to use the floo?"

"Hmm," Lily hummed, "but maybe you have somewhere else more… private?"

Old Tom stopped his cleaning and his eyes met hers inquisitively.

"Are you in trouble?" his voice lowered as he leaned towards her. The fingers wrapped around the rag he'd been using to clean up was lean but strong as it twitched. Lily thought he looked like he wanted to go for his wand and was suddenly struck by how much she didn't know about him.

"Not really. Just looking for a bit of privacy." She took another sip."I don't need where I'm going to be on the front page of the Prophet come morning."

"Brilliant," he smiled warmly at her and his hand went back to scrubbing, "Why don't we meet at my office? It's just through that door over there. You take your drink with you and wait for me to finish up here."

Lily nodded in thanks and headed towards the door between the bar and the back exit where Tom had pointed her to.

His office was tidy even as everything about it screamed worn and old. Lily sat herself down in one of the settees and got on with her drink. Not long after, Tom walked in and proceeded to his desk.

"You see, I always tell your aunt Hannah not to mess around here," he rummages through some drawers, "her 'tidying up' somehow always ends up making things more difficult to find."

Lily smiled at his obvious care for her aunt. Tom had trained her ever since she graduated Hogwarts to take over the Cauldron when he died, and he'd always treated her as the daughter he never had.

"She means well," she finished her drink and stood up to help.

"Aha!" he came to her with a small bowl of green powder, "found it."

"Thank you so much, Tom." She let him take the tumbler from her hands and started fishing around her purse for some coins. "How much do I own you?

"Nonsense, Miss Potter, I could never let you pay for this," he guided her hand to the floo powder, "it's a favour from a friend, now off you go!"

Lily smiled warmly at him and thanked him yet again before stepping into the fireplace, throwing in the floo powder and announcing where she was going loud and clearly.

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The moment she stepped out of the floo network she was bombarded with the sound of the loud bass of one of the Midnight Thestrals more famous songs. They were her favourite band in the Wizarding World. Their rap songs always had beautiful lyrics which quite often talked about real issues their generation faced.

It did't hurt that the lead singer had been a seventh year Slytherin when Lily got sorted and her first crush ever.

It didn't take her long to find Alicia. She was dancing in their makeshift dance floor, her arms in the as a guy who Lily vaguely recognised as having graduated the year before guided her hips to the beat. Lily tried to make her way towards her but a hand stopped her from going further.

"Didn't think you'd come!" Charlie Nott smiled warmly at her.

"Hey, darling." Lily hugged him happily.

"Did you just get here?" His eyes were already kind of distant and his speech a bit slurred.

"Yep," Lily laughed as he got distracted with the beat of the next song before his eyes showed recognition for what she'd said.

"You have a lot of catching up to do then," he dragged her to one of the tables that held colourful mixes of alcohol.

Charlie handed her a shot of what she suspected to be Unicorn's Elixir before giving her a Quintin Black to sip on.

"Oh Merlin, there's a really hot, potentially gay guy standing all by himself over there," Charlie pointed to the corner of the room before dramatically wiggling his brows at here, "I can't let an opportunity like this go to waste. Ta!"

Lily laughed at his antics and went to wish him good luck but his back was already turned to her and the loud music drowned her words. She shrugged instead and downed the drink in her hand before finally making her way to Alicia. Just before she reached her, she let the empty bottle on top of one of the tables.

"Alicia!"

The brunette beauty turned towards her in surprise before her sensual red lips turned up at the corners. She ditched the guy behind her without a backwards glance and quickly hugged Lily.

"You came!" she shouted excitedly, her voice decidedly slurred.

"I couldn't think of anything to get you as a birthday present," Lily apologized, "but I think I know something you'd like."

Alicia's eyes shinned mischievously at her as she pulled Lily's slightly taller body towards her own and forced her to sway to the beat with her.

"Oh?" her plump lips parted in a perfect 'o' and Lily was momentarily distracted by the sight.

"A—" she cleared her throat, "—A photoshoot."

Her mouth was suddenly dry and she didn't know why. Alicia smirked at her before bringing her mouth closer to her ear.

"I want something else," she murmured seductively.

"I, uh, sure," Lily stammered.

What the fuck was happening?

"Kiss me."

The demand was blunt and it made Lily blanch. She'd never kissed a girl before. Maybe it was time to have new experiences?

A flash of blond went through her mind's eye and she balked. She was invited here by Scorpius first. Scorpius who she'd shagged not once but twice and who actually owned this house. Well, technically his parents did but still, wasn't it a bit disrespectful? Sure, she didn't think she owned him anything but still...

"I don't know..." her speech cut off when she felt him behind her.

She didn't know how she knew it was him, exactly. Maybe it was his smell or his energy, but she could sense his presence from afar. His large hand caged her hips and the solid warmth of his body pushed her towards Alicia firmly. Lily felt his hot breath on her neck before his lips met her earlobe as he growled a command.

"Kiss her."

She didn't need to be told twice, really.

Alicia's mouth was hot and pliable beneath hers, her smaller frame throwing Lily off guard. She never had to lead a kiss before and was quite honestly at a loss.

The feel of Scorpius grinding himself on her ass, though, wakened something inside her. Before she could even process what was happening, her teeth were drawing a moan from the femme fatale in front of her as they closed around her lower lip.

Her tongue instinctively used the brunette's opening to its advantage, delving into the hot cavern of her mouth to dance with hers. She registered in the back of her mind that she was using some of the moves Scorpius used on her, but the thrill of doing something so forbidden kept her from thinking too much of it.

Her hands angled Alicia's jaw upwards so she could have more access to her mouth at the same time as Scorpius bit down on her neck. Hard.

She gasped into the older girl's mouth as Scorpius worked relentlessly on the spot between her shoulder and neck. Lily couldn't focus on the kiss anymore, so she simply rested her forehead against Alicia's and let a small whimper escape her when truth was she was ready to fucking scream with how much she wanted him.

Alicia chuckled.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this worked up, dear cousin," she distanced her head from Lily's to look at the two of them.

"Bite me, Zabini," she heard the low growl of his voice as his chest vibrated against her.

Alicia didn't seem scared by the dangerous edge to her cousin's voice though. She simply extricated herself from the pair and sent Lily a devious smile.

"This has been fun, Lily." She winked at her, "I'll hold you up to that photoshoot, though."

And with that she was gone. Once again it was just Lily and Scorpius but this time something felt different. There was some kind of anxious energy around him that she couldn't fathom. His grip on her hips were close to bruising and his breath while controlled was just... off.

She turned around in his grip and had to hold in a gasp. His pupils were blown wide, black almost encasing the stormy grey-blue of his iris. His jaw was set into a tense line and his lips held no amusement to them even as they curved in a smirk.

"I'm sorry I—" she tried to say something but his finger was suddenly on her lips.

"You should never apologize when you're not at fault," he let his finger drag her bottom lip down, his eyes following the movement. "Wanna see my childhood room?"

Even though he seemed to be asking something, his tone of voice left no room for argument. Not that Lily would refuse him, of course, but it still made a thrill go down her spine in anxiety as she debated what he would do if she said no. She found herself nodding when her mouth refused to formulate sentences.

As he held onto her hand and guided her through the party towards his room, Lily had enough awareness to see the looks sent their way. The people in this party — not all of them Slytherin but definitely all loyal — were the first of Hogwarts reality to witness the interaction between the Slytherin King and and the Potter Princess.

This would be remembered by them as the night everything changed in Slytherin Royalty dynamics. The King had a new interest, she knew they were thinking, and it was a surprise to them all.

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"You know we can walk at a normal pace," she panted as Scorpius dragged her down numerous hallways that all looked the same.

"Shut up," his voice was gruff and his grip firm on her wrist.

She didn't know what was wrong with him that night. This forceful way he was handling her was scary, made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She wasn't scared of him, though. She was scared by how she was reacting to this change, how much it _excited_ her.

By the time they reached his room, her knickers were so drenched, Lily was afraid her juices would run down her thighs. She didn't have time to look around because next thing she knew, Scorpius was lifting her up and throwing her on the large four poster bed.

She bounced once and he was already on top of her, his body covering hers completely as his lips brushed against hers.

"Do you trust me?" he murmured against her skin as he made his way down her neck. She didn't think her voice was going to work so she simply nodded her head. He wasn't satisfied, though. "Answer me." His growl was positively sinful.

"Yes!" she squeaked as he bit her neck. Good Merlin what was this man doing to her?

"Good."

His hands were suddenly on her shirt pushing it up her body until it was only around her wrists. He didn't bother to move it any further, though, and continued with sure hands to take her skirt off. Lily decided to rid herself of the material of her shirt so she could touch him but his hands were suddenly blocking hers.

"Don't move," his voice was so gravely she could barely understand what he said. His commanding tone was enough for her to get the message, though.

When he was sure she wouldn't move her arms, he raised himself from the bed and scooted down to take her heels off her. She was only in her underwear beneath him now. His hungry gaze all over her body, so present she could almost feel it like a caress against her heated skin.

"So fucking beautiful," he looked at her with blown out pupils and Lily felt a shiver go down her spine.

The way he was looking at her was so intense, she could feel her cheeks warming even as she unconsciously spread her legs apart. This, of course, made him smirk at her before he left the bed. Lily squirmed, her thighs rubbing together as she contemplated moving. He didn't say anything before he went into what she assumed was his closet, so that meant she could move right?

She knew it didn't. But still, what would he do if she did move? So lost in all the possibilities her mind immediately conjured she didn't have time to actually act upon her fantasies. Scorpius was back with a Slytherin green tie in his hands.

He climbed on the bed again and this time he let her wrists free. He pulled her up until she was sitting, her heart pounding against her ribcage as he slowly brought the silk tie to her eyes. He tied it securely behind her head before his hands slowly moved over her shoulders and back to take off her bra. Once she was free of the fabric he pushed her down again, her breath leaving her in a huff.

For a moment she couldn't feel him against her and it made goosebumps rise on her skin. Everything else was enhanced now that one of her senses was blocked.

Suddenly hands were slowly brining her wrists together and putting them where they'd been before, above her head.

"I'm not gonna tie them," his voice was low and languid, "but you're not gonna move them."

She didn't even need to think before her head was moving up and down, consenting.

"Say it," he ordered.

"I'm not gonna move them," she groaned as his body pressed her even further into the mattress.

Scorpius kissed his way down her body before his teeth caught her knickers and let them snap back. Lily gasped and he chuckled lowly as his hands worked to get rid of the piece of fabric. His mouth sucked on her inner thighs slowly as his hands went behind her knees and spread them so he could settle between them.

Lily was already breathless and he had barely touched her. She was already crazed with desire, her clit throbbing as Scorpius breathed out on her most sensitive spot.

When his mouth finally descended upon her lower lips she was already close to seeing stars.

His lips slowly kissed her, before his tongue finally came out to taste her. It was exquisite, the feeling of having Scorpius Malfoy between her legs, eating her out.

She cried out as his lips closed around her clit and he sucked lightly on it. She was sure she was about to come and he had barely begun.

Scorpius brought one finger inside her while his mouth continued to work on the little bundle of nerves and Lily moaned loudly in response.

"Fuck, yes," she groaned out and couldn't help but grind shamelessly against his mouth.

He hooked his finger in response and Lily's hands immediately went down to his hair. Her fingers wrapped around his roots as she brought him closed towards her, urging him to keep going. She was all too disappointed when he pulled away, a helpless whine escaping her. She was so fucking close.

"Ah, ah," she heard him tusk as his heat left her body, "what did I tell you, Potter? No moving."

His hands were suddenly on her hips, turning her body around like she weighted nothing. Lily squealed in surprise before his hand fell on one of her ass cheeks in a hard slap. The sound caught in her throat as warmth irradiated from where he'd hit and reached her already throbbing pussy.

"Oh, fuck me," she moaned.

Scorpius chuckled in response, his palm slowly massaging the abused area before his hand connected with it again. The sound of the slap echoed around the room alongside her moan before she heard the rustling of clothes behind her. She assumed he'd taken his shirt off, because next thing she knew, his body was pressing down on hers.

"I plan to," his mouth trailed a hot path from the nape of her neck to her ass where he bit firmly.

She heard the sound of his belt being unbuckled and tried to steady herself for what she knew was coming. Nothing could prepare her, however, to how fucking huge he would feel like this. He stretched out every inch of her in the most delicious way, making her moan against the skin of her arms where her head rested.

Scorpius pounded into her with abandon, seemingly as worked up as she'd felt. He didn't seem satisfied with the way she was muffling her moans, though. One of his hands left her hips to wrap around her hair. He pulled it back, forcing her head to snap up and a delighted cry to leave her lips.

"That's it," he panted, "let me hear you, love."

It was his voice that set her off.

Her electrified body squeezed him tight which earned her a grunt from him. She was on fire, every nerve ending screaming in ecstasy with her. She'd never come like this before in her life. She only came to it much later, when he was already ridding her of his makeshift blindfold.

"Did I break you?" he chuckled lowly while kissing the flawless skin of her shoulder.

Lily was too breathless to do anything other than turn around to look at him.

His voice was already controlled if only a little breathless but his hair was a right mess and the sheen of sweat on his skin was telling. Still, she bet he looked much more composed than she did.

"Shut up," she finally found her voice even if it came out as a panting murmur.

She stretched her muscles languidly, relishing in the slight burn that came with it as Scorpius lit a cigaret. Her body was alive, energy thrumming from beneath her skin. He had this effect on her. Could make her feel so alive just as much as he had the power to make her feel a puddle of satisfaction.

Lily turned on her stomach so she could face Scorpius and smirked at him. He'd run his hand through his hair, making it stick up on the ends.

"What?" he murmured in return, the slightest of pulls on the corner of his lips.

"Nothing," she stole the cigaret from him and took a drag before pushing it back between his lips.

They stood in silence for a while just gazing at each other as Scorpius finished the cigaret and promptly vanished it. A sudden though struck Lily. They haven't even fucking _kissed_.

Something must have shown on her face because Scorpius furrowed his brow and raised himself in one elbow so his face was level with hers.

"What's wrong?" his voice was still low, but worry was evident in it.

"Nothing, I just realized," she shook her head already regretting saying it, "we—we haven't kissed."

She stumbled over her words and felt her cheeks warm. His eyebrows rose on his face as he seemed to think back on the night. A small grin graced his face.

"I guess we'll have to see to that, won't we?" he leaned forward on one elbow while bringing his other hand to the back of her head to bring her closer.

His nose brushed hers once before his lips descended on hers. Soft and warm, this kiss was hot and sensual but it wasn't leading to anything. They broke for air not long after, their noses still bumping against each other.

"Are you staying over?" his voice was but a whisper as their breaths mingled.

"Hm..." Lily hummed in content before kissing him lightly, "No, not tonight."

She forced herself to get up and started to search for her clothes. She knew if she stayed a minute longer in his bed, she wouldn't get up until morning. She used her wand to clean herself before putting on her underwear.

She chanced a look at him while she continued to dress and was rewarded with a magnificent view. His eyes were hooded from his orgasm and his hair a mess. He was shirtless but even though he was tucked back into his underwear, his pants were open and hung low on his hips.

Lily smirked at him while he grabbed another cigaret. She quickly picked up her phone from her skirt's pocket and took a picture of him.

"What are you doing?" he asked her while getting up himself.

Lily sneakily put her phone away and proceeded to put her hair up in a ponytail. She knew it would take more than her hands to make it look like she didn't just get thoroughly shagged.

"Taking a picture of you." She let him approach her before she rose on her tiptoes to kiss him. "Think you can apparate me?

His hands squeezed her hips. "Sure, let me just grab a shirt."

Lily checked her messages while he put himself together and quickly texted Lola so she knew she was on her way. Before long she was standing on her front door with Scorpius' arms around her.

He grabbed her chin gently between his fingers and raised her head so he could look at her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," her voice matched his low tone. Lily furrowed her brows when she remembered his strange behaviour from earlier. "What happened today?"

"Sorry, I got a little rough back there," he said with a cringe.

Lily was quick to shake her head. "No, it's fine, I—" she fought a blush, "I liked it. I just wanted to know what brought it on."

The small smirk that had come forward at her confession fell from his chiseled face and a frown replaced it. He ran a hand through his mussed hair and shook his head lightly.

"It's nothing, really." He sighed a bit, his voice laced with annoyance. "Some of the older guys who already graduated brought some drugs and I had to deal with them."

Lily frowned at this. "But..." she hesitated, "our parties usually have an illegal substance of some kind or two."

"Yeah," he conceded, "but only light stuff. Nothing that can easily kill someone."

"Oh," Lily felt at a loss of what to say. It wasn't everyday that a Slytherin disobeyed this kind of rule.

"It wasn't even that they brought that stuff, though." He continued. His voice was more annoyed now, bordering on angry. "The problem was that they were having a hard time accepting my orders and that just won't do."

Realisation downed on her features. "Hence the power play in the bedroom." Her tone was light, but her eyes had a decidedly mischievous glint to them.

"Yeah," he looked uncertain and that coupled with his adorably messy hair made her give up on her idea to tease him.

"Don't worry," she appeased him. "I already told you I enjoyed it."

He shot her his usual smirk and stepped closer to her. "Good." Then his lips were gliding over hers once more. The kiss took her breath away and she just rested her forehead against his when they broke apart to force her heart to slow down. "Goodnight, love."

Oh, how his husky voice did things to her.

"Night," she whispered and with a crack he was gone.

She rested her head against the door and took a deep calming breath before going inside.

Lola was sitting on her bed watching a movie. She didn't say anything as Lily sat down next to her and stole some of her popcorn but she also didn't miss the grin on her cousin's face.

.

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 _I am so, so sorry for taking so long. I literally have no other excuse other than RL sucks and I wanna die. I hope an extra long chapter with some Fifty Shades inspired smut will make it up for the ridiculously long wait._

 _I really wanted to take the time to thank everyone who reviewed, favourited or followed the story. You guys rock, honestly. Every time I get a notification my heart does a happy little flip and my muse flares up. You guys have been keeping me from drowning in these past hellish months, so really, thank you all._

 _I have the next chapters mostly complete but there's still a couple of weeks left before I'll be completely free to work on them, so I apologise in advance if I can just give you guys some ScorLily goodness around Christmas._

 _Thanks for all the love,_

 _~JulietteDeschemps_


	7. Chapter VII

**That Summer Chapter VII**

"Good morning, family."

The Potters were all seated and ready to have breakfast when Lily entered the kitchen that morning. Her dad had made blueberry pancakes with toast and bacon and it smelled delicious.

"Morning, flower," he answered when she kissed his cheek.

She sat down in her usual spot next to James while her brothers gave her mumbled good mornings and her mum filled her cup with tea.

"Thanks, mum." Lily was rewarded with a smile from Ginny. "Do you have to go to the office today?"

There was a time when her mother used to work everyday. She would come and go at odd hours and had to skip most family breakfasts so she could get there on time. Those were stressful times between the family but gave the kids plenty of adventures growing up. Ginny always had exclusive seats for all Quidditch games all over Europe and she quite frequently used her free pass to include their family. They'd even gone to the previous Quidditch World Cup in Brazil.

Nowadays, her workload had lessened considerably as she became Head Editor of the Quidditch section of the Daily Prophet. She still had no set hours, but that only meant that there were some days that she barely had to be in the office.

"Hmm, yes, unfortunately," Ginny answered with a frown as she spread butter on her toast. "I'll probably be home late, too. The Falmouth Falcons and the Holyhead Harpies are set for the finals, so everyone's working overtime for that epic match."

"Are we going to the Quidditch Tournament finals this year, mum?" James asked. He seemed to be more awake now that he was scarfing down their dad's cookings.

Harry shot him an amused look over his Daily Prophet.

"Do you honestly think your mother is going to miss the chance to see the Harpies win?" Harry asked teasingly towards Ginny who promptly rolled her eyes and gave a cute little humph.

"What if the Falcons win?" Lily blurted before she could hold herself back.

Because of her mum's past career with the Holyhead Harpies, their nuclear family tended to root for them. Quite intensely so, she might add. But even though Lily loved the idea of them — Honestly, an all women team who kicked ass? Wicked! — she had always thought that the Falmouth Falcons were the most well balanced team. Equal parts talent and hard work whereas the Harpies had three amazing players who basically carried the team on their back.

Besides, the Falcons' seeker was _hot_.

"Then we have to go and secretly cheer for whatever other team they're playing against in the World Cup," Ginny said with a fierce smile on her face.

Lily snorted but wisely kept quiet.

They ate their breakfast in a comfortable silence before Albus spoke up, seemingly awakened now that he had his second cup of black tea.

"So, what are the plans for the big forty, dad?"

"Oh, don't remind me," Harry ran his hand through his hair, "I'm getting old."

"Don't worry, love," Ginny laughed, "I like the white on your beard."

Lily watched as her mum stroked her dad's jaw affectionally. Her brothers were both making gagging noises in the background but she was actually quite happy with the display.

Her parents had always been very loving and although they bickered and made fun of each other, they were always obviously in love. Even when they both struggled with their odd hours, they never wavered. Lily couldn't imagine them ever being apart.

"We're celebrating at the Burrow this year, dear," Ginny said.

"Say, what do you find yourself urging for lately, dad?" James asked, "A new Sneakoscope? Some new shoes, maybe?"

"Smooth," Albus snickered while Ginny rolled her eyes at her older son.

"Your father's birthday is at the end of the month and just now you decide to buy him something?" She scolded him.

"You haven't bought him anything too right, Al?" Lily couldn't help but ask. She already knew the answer when Albus' cheeks coloured slightly. "Idiots," Lily snickered.

"I don't need anything, James," Harry smiled at his family, "you guys are my gift."

"You're so corny, daddy," Lily reached over James to squeeze her dad's hand.

She had picked at her brothers but, really, she was glad James thought to say something because she had completely forgotten about it.

She had been so wrapped up in a Scorpius scented cloud that she'd forgotten her dad's birthday. She needed to go to Diagon Alley. _Today._

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.

.

After Lily floo called Dominque to meet her at the Leaky Cauldron for brunch, she decided to take her broom for a spin around her backyard. She had been too lazy lately to go on her usual morning runs so she felt a bit of sweating was in order.

She didn't do a very extensive workout but the sun was so hot that by the time her feet touched the ground she was soaked in sweat.

The cold shower she took was heaven on her overheated skin before she had to get out. Lily did her normal routine before going to decide what to wear.

She settled on a black and white stripped body that had spaghetti straps and a plunging neckline and paired it off with some high-waisted cutoffs. She slipped on her white Adidas shoes, grabbed her small rucksack and headed downstairs to use the floo.

The Leaky Cauldron was packed when she got there, but she managed to find a table after some quick acting on her part when a couple got up. She was seated before the family that had been table hunting besides her could even blink.

She ordered a tall glass of pumpkin juice and waited for her cousin patiently. Dominique was never on time for anything but she was hardly ever incredibly late, so Lily figured she wouldn't have to wait too long.

"Hey, sweetie, full house today," Hanna Abbot cleaned her table hurriedly and pulled a quill from behind her ear, "you waiting for someone or are you ready to order?"

"Hi, Aunt Hannah," Lily smiled brightly at her, "I'm waiting for Dom, she mustn't be long now."

"You got it, darling. Holler when you're ready."

And with that she was gone, bustling through the tables. Lily tried to find Old Tom with her eyes but the bar was so full she couldn't see anything.

After a while a patron finally vacated his seat and Lily got a glimpse of him using his want to pour half a dozen butterbeers at the same time. She waved her hand in hello and couldn't help but smile brightly when he winked at her and tipped an imaginary hat in her direction.

Not long after, Dominique plopped herself in the seat across from her.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," she sat her purse on the back of her chair.

"Are you?" Lily raised an eyebrow and watched as a smile slowly made its way into the half-veelan's face.

"Not really," Lily snorted and shook her head. "Anyway, this time it wasn't really my fault."

"What happened?" Lily protested when Dominique stole a sip from her drink.

"Aunt Gabie is visiting and you know her brats are absolute hell." She pulled her platinum hair up in a high ponytail.

"I never understood your reason for hating them," Lily fanned herself with her hand in a hopeless attempt at cooling down a bit, "they're actually kinda cute."

Dominique snorted derisively.

"It's not really about them, more like kids in general. They hate me and I hate them. It's a nicely balanced relationship."

Lily laughed.

Hannah came to get their orders. Dominique asked for a butterbeer and they both ordered salads.

"So, what's the big emergency, cousin?" Dominique asked when Hannah left. "You sounded quite panicked on the floo."

"I actually forgot to buy my dad's birthday present." Lily shrugged sheepishly. "Thought maybe you could help me out and we could do some shopping of our own."

"Sounds good to me." Dom shrugged. "You really forgot your dad's birthday?"

"Ugh, I don't know what happened," Lily groaned and ran her hand through her hair in agitation.

"I'll tell you what happened," Dominique grinned teasingly, "sex haze."

"It is not—" Lily exclaimed, but she stopped herself short then continued with a sigh, "ok, fine. I'm definitely in a sex haze," Lily rolled her eyes as Dom laughed.

"Don't worry, cousin," Dom snickered, "it's quite understandable. Being with a new beau is exciting."

Lily hummed noncommittally and took a sip from her pumpkin juice and tried to look indifferent. She was just waiting for what Dominique would inevitably say next.

"You do know you're freaking me out by not telling me who it is, right?" And there it was. Lily could only sigh. "I'm serious! I'm beginning to think I was wrong and you're actually shagging a middle aged, married man."

Lily gasped out loud before throwing her head back and laughing hard.

"He is not a married man, you dirty minded cow!"

"Ok, not married then, but you did't say anything about the middle aged part." Dominique grinned at her. "Are you looking for a new daddy, Lily?"

Lily let out a horrified squeak and threw her napkin at Dominique in response.

"Dom!"

Their laughter mingled with the other patron's voices as she two cousins finished their late brunch. After they payed their checks with much protest from Hannah —"Family shouldn't have to pay," followed by, "If family never payed you would end up broke, Aunt Hannah" — the girls headed into Diagon Alley.

"So what where you thinking of getting your dad?" Dominique asked while they walked aimlessly down the crowded streets.

"I don't know," Lily sighed. "He's turning forty, this is an important year."

"Maybe a new Sneakoscope?" Dominique pointed to a window next to them. Lily hummed.

"Hmm, no. I'm pretty sure James and Albus are getting him something like that," she bit her lip and looked around.

She couldn't just get her dad a book and be done with it. It needed to be something special, something he'd like and find useful. Most importantly, it needed to be better than her brother's gifts.

They passed one of the many entrances to Knockturn Alley and Lily was struck but a thought. There were some pretty useful things down those narrow streets. She couldn't let people see her entering said dark alley, though. It would spread to the press quicker than fiendfire.

She needed to come back later when there were less people around.

"You know what?" She turned to Dominique. "I'll think about this some more and come back later."

"Are you sure?" Dominique asked with her blonde eyebrows furrowed, "Your dad's birthday is in two weeks…"

"It's fine," Lily dismissed her with a wave of her hand. "Wanna get some ice cream before going to muggle London?"

"Yeah, okay," Dominique shrugged her shoulders at Lily's blunt dismissal.

They changed course to Florean Fortescue's and talked amiably about future stay overs at the Burrow. It's been about a week since they have gone and Grandma Molly had already sent an owl complaining about it.

Lily saw him from the distance. He had his back to her but she could recognise him anywhere right now. The way his black shirt stretched over taught muscle and his carefully controlled posture were like a beacon in a starless night. Felix and Alicia were on either side of him, both eating from very colourful ice cream cones but she had to rip her eyes from him to notice them. He looked positively delicious.

Lily had stopped speaking mid sentence but before Dominique could question her about it, Felix's eyes met hers. She watched as recognition filled them before a big smile graced his features.

"Lily, love, what a wonderful surprise," he got up before anyone could react and closed the distance between them to engulf her in a tight hug and spin her around. "You look hot as always."

"Hey, Felix," Lily laughed as he sat her down, "it's good to see you too."

"Come sit with us, love," Felix entangled their fingers and pulled her by the hand while gesturing for Dom to follow.

"Hi, Lily," Alicia greeted her with a smile as Felix went to find two chairs to add to their table.

"Hey, Alicia," Lily could feel herself blush a bit even as a friendly smile spread on her lips. Memories of her birthday party came unbidden but the easy way the girl greeted her calmed her nerves considerably.

She saw Scorpius getting up while she and Alicia traded pleasantries, so she couldn't say she was surprised when his hand rested on the small of her back.

"Hey," his hand slid around to her waist which he squeezed to make her look at him.

"Hi," she really couldn't stop the smile that followed. She swears she tried to, but when she saw his face, slightly tanned and with sunlight reflecting on it, she was powerless.

Lily was saved from making a fool of herself by Felix who came back dragging two chairs behind him.

"You guys will not believe the trouble I went through to get these." He set them around their small table. "Seriously, I had to fight an old lady and let me tell you, that old bat had some strong triceps."

It seemed as if it was Felix's secret ability to make anyone laugh because even Dominique let out a tiny snicker at his antics. Lily felt instantly at ease and was left to marvel at the boy's carefreeness.

"What would you ladies like?" Scorpius asked and Lily was actually surprised at his politeness. There wasn't exactly any lost love between him and her family and even though she never knew of any altercation between him and Dominique, she was still a Gryffindor and a Weasley. "My treat."

"Butterbeer," Dominique answered before Lily could refuse. She shot her cousin a strange look which Dominique only shrugged in response. "What? Tosser's filthy rich, I get by on a meagre allowance. Besides, he offered."

Scorpius smirked at them both as Felix and Alicia laughed quietly.

"She's right," his low baritone was as thrill inducing as always, "come on, Potter, help me carry them back."

Lily followed him inside the parlour, the chilling charms placed inside a nice reprieve from the oppressing heat outside. There was a line as was expected on a summer day so they settled themselves on the end and waited.

"You haven't answered my snapchat yet," he was impossibly tall as he leaned a bit towards her, his scent immediately encasing her.

"Sorry," Lily laughed, "I spent the morning flying."

"And you didn't even think to ask me to join you?" Scorpius raised an eyebrow at her and stepped even closer, his breath fanning on her face as his voice dropped low. "Do you know how much more fun we could've had on your broom?"

Lily fought to keep her wits about her even as her mouth ran dry at the images his tone and words were bringing forward. She cleared her throat and averted her eyes before speaking.

"I'm sorry, I'm sure my dad and brothers would've loved to have you there with me," she managed to shoot him a teasing grin even as she felt the strain of not giving into what she was feeling and becoming a puddle on the ground.

His nose scrunched up as if he smelled something awful and Lily scoffed at his expression.

"Never mind that."

"Can I open you snapchat now or will it shock the first year behind us?" She eyed him from beneath her lashes.

"I can't remember," he leaned further towards her so they were almost touching, "why don't you find out?"

Lily sent him one last look before unlocking her phone. He wouldn't let her open it if it was something… bellow the waist, right? She guessed she would have to find out for herself.

She quickly entered the app but her fingers lingered above the red square for a fraction of a second before she pressed it.

Her screen was instantly filled with Alicia's dark hair. She seemed to be asleep, lying on her stomach in between white sheets. The caption read 'Good morning,' and he used a black and white filter.

"You guys had a sleepover?" She raised her eyebrow at him.

"No," his smirk was back, "I just payed her a visit she wasn't ready for this morning."

Lily laughed and clicked to reply before aiming the camera at them both. She took a selfie and saved it before she sent it to him. Companionable silence settled around them as they waited in line and it gave way for Lily to think about her dad's present. She couldn't help but frown at the predicament she found herself in.

"What?" He asked.

She hadn't realised he had been looking at her.

"Nothing, I just," she sighed and rolled her eyes, "I don't know what to get my dad for his birthday."

"Ah," Scorpius moved his jaw around as he thought about it, "do you have a general idea?"

"I wanted something new, you know? Something he wouldn't have thought he needed but will actually be quite useful."

"Knockturn Alley sounds like a good place to find something like that," his voice lowered.

"It's what I was thinking, but I can't be seen going in there," her tone matched his.

"Of course not," he replied, "but I can with a random black haired girl." Lily quickly caught on to what he was implying.

"Dominique will most certainly judge me for going there," Lily bit her lower lip and watched as Scorpius' eyes focused there.

"Then ditch her," he said simply, his voice controlled as ever but Lily could see that his pupils had dilated slightly.

"I was the one who asked her here," she exclaimed, "I can't very well just ditch her!"

They were next in line so they couldn't discuss it any further but Scorpius quickly leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"I got this, just get your ice cream and follow my lead."

They quickly ordered — butterbeer for Dominique and toffee apple for Lily— before walking to their table again.

"Here you go, Dom," she handed her the cone and made to sit down but Scorpius held her back by his hold on her waist.

"Do you mind staying with them for a while, Weasley?" Scorpius asked her cousin with a charming smile on his face. "I need to show Potter something real quick."

"I—" Dominique tried to say something but Scorpius cut her off.

"Don't worry, Alicia will save you from whatever crazy things Felix wants to do." Scorpius moved his hand to her wrist.

"Hey!" Felix protested and looked like he was about to start a rant but Scorpius was already pulling her back.

"We'll be back soon." Scorpius didn't even let them answer, he quickly pulled her back and set in the direction of the entrance Lily had passed earlier.

They walked in a very hurried pace while Lily finished her cone until Scorpius suddenly stopped and pushed her into a tight alley between Florish and Blott's and Quality Quidditch Supplies. There were so many people on the street that she didn't think anyone noticed.

"Can you change the colour of your hair?" He asked her.

Their bodies were quite close and she could feel his heat through his shirt. It took a while before she could answer him.

"I, uh—" she cleared her throat before getting her wits together, "Trace, remember?"

"Shit, I always forget you're underage…" He ran a hand through his hair. "I've never done it on another human before." He must have seen the uncertain look on her face because he was quick to reassure her. "Don't worry, love, I'm on top of my class." He raised his wand to her head. "Ready?"

"Yeah…" Lily nodded and closed her eyes.

She heard him mutter the spell and felt the magic move from her roots down to the ends of her hair. She didn't move an inch, not even daring to breathe before he lowered his wand.

"Done." She breathed out and opened her eyes. "This is so weird. You look like a female version of your dad." The wrinkle on his nose was back.

"Merlin's bollocks, you did not just compare me to my dad," Lily made a face and fished her phone out of her pocket.

"I can't help it," he laughed incredulously at his faux pas, "it's really freaking me out."

"Wow," Lily agreed as she looked at herself on her cell's camera. Even though the only thing that changed was her hair colour, it made a difference. It was jet black, exactly like her father's and it was _weird_. She shook her head and pocket her phone before looking back at Scorpius determinedly. "Let's just go."

They walked through the narrow corridor that led to Knockturn Alley in silence. Scorpius seemed to know were he was going so the only thing Lily bothered to do was show people she felt comfortable being there. She may have been wearing muggle clothes but nowadays even pureblood adhered to some pieces of muggle fashion. The only thing that would turn heads would be if she looked like she didn't belong there.

Knockturn Alley was somewhere most Gryffindors didn't venture. Mistrust ran deep within every shop owner there and it made it hard to haggle when you reeked of lions.

During the day, the streets were buzzing with life just like in Diagon Alley. There were more shady characters, sure, but nothing to be scared of. At night, though, things changed a bit.

Lily had gone there for one party or another in her Slytherin years during break. It was dangerous to be walking the streets alone so usually they made groups to go together to underground clubs.

If you had a big enough name, though — or at least acted like you did — you had nothing to worry about. So Lily pushed her shoulders back, raised her chin and lowered her lashes. If she looked like she belonged, no one would question her.

Scorpius guided her with a hand to her lower back to a shop. It looked fancier than most stores around there. Cleaner too. Before they went in, Lily managed to get a glimpse of the storefront.

"Kovac's Emporium," she murmured under her breath.

"Used to be Borgin & Burkes during our parent's time," Scorpius replied in her ear, "they had some problems with taxes, though, so it was sold a couple of years back."

Everything was pristine clean in the large shop. The ceiling was high and victorian windows covered every wall. The second floor ran a corridor against each wall, leaving the centre free and was covered by black curtains not actual walls. The bottom floor was a maze of trinkets and different magical items. From jewellery to furniture, there was everything there.

"This is amazing," Lily looked around in awe.

"This is were I usually buy presents." Scorpius squeezed her waist. "You better close your mouth, love. You don't want to look like you don't belong when the owner comes."

"Sorry," she assumed her earlier posture while still managing to look sheepish. Scorpius growled low on his throat.

"I told you not to apologise," the words hissed in her ear brought heady images from their last encounter as a man who she assumed to be the owner approached them.

Her first impression of him was that he was ridiculously imposing. Salt and pepper hair in a buzzcut, face set and a scar from his temple to his cheekbone. He was wearing a muggle suit and not a single magical piece of clothing.

"Mr. Malfoy," he nodded his head at Scorpius but didn't offer his hand, "what can I assist you with today?"

"Afternoon, Mr. Kovac," Scorpius returned his nod and pointed his chin towards Lily, "this is my friend Lily Potter. She's looking to buy her dad a gift."

The stern man nodded, his cold green eyes moving to Lily. He narrowed them minutely at her.

"Maybe a Foe-Glass or a Sneakoscope?" he suggested to Lily.

"No," she shook her head, "my brothers are getting him something like that. I was looking for something more... original."

Kovac looked her up and down, his eyes definitely narrowed now. He looked like he was seizing her up, his suspicious gaze trying to decide if she was trustworthy.

"Can you vouch for her, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Yes, I most certainly can," Scorpius didn't miss a beat.

"Very well, then," he turned on his back and made for the stairs, " follow me."

When they reached the second floor, Kovac turned right and used his wand in an intrinsic movement to open the curtains while murmuring some kind of spell. Lily recognised the patterns as those of disarming wards but she got lost in the sheer amount and complexity of them.

"That must have been a hefty amount of galleons spent on those wards," Lily said offhandedly.

"Not quite," Kovac shot her a quick glance, "I put them up myself."

"Impressive," Lily murmured beneath her breath in response.

When the curtains finally opened, she had to fight back a gasp. There were rows of pedestals that contained glass boxes which were all illuminated with fairy lights. Inside each box was a different object and there were none alike.

"This is my private sells, for special buyers only," Kovac made his way down one of the aisles and Scorpius guided Lily forward until they reached the second to last pedestal.

Inside was a simple necklace. A circular silver coin the size of a galleon hung by a long leather cord. It shinned bright and Lily could tell by the ancient runes on the back that it was magical.

"What is this?" she asked Kovac.

"This is something I think your dad will appreciate." He vanished the case and grabbed the necklace to show her, "When I'm done with the engravings it will work like your Weasley Family Clock, only portable."

"How do you know about that?" Lily's head snapped in his direction, suspiciousness filling her and making her stomach drop. Kovac remained impassive, though.

"My father was the one who made it for them during the first war before we moved back to Russia," he shrugged his shoulders, "he kept a journal of all his inventions and I've been upgrading some of them. There's no need to be alarmed Ms. Potter."

"How much will it cost?" Scorpius intervened before she could say anything else.

"Fifty galleons," Kovac replied, "I can get it done by the end of the week and send it by owl."

"Perfect," Scorpius nodded his approval.

"Can you give me a list of the family members you'd like to put on the coin?" Kovac took a small writing pad from inside his suit and a fancy muggle pen.

He wrote down the names Lily gave him — including Teddy's — before putting the necklace and the writing pad back in the same inside pocket on his suit.

"Fifty percent of the payment upfront and the rest you attach to the owl when you're satisfied with your product, Ms. Potter."

Lily payed him with a small smile on her face, happy to have found the perfect present. She was in such a good mood that she even waved at him when he escorted them out of the store. She ignored Scorpius' raised eyebrow and set a quick pace back to Diagon Alley.

"Thanks for helping me," she felt the magic dissolving and knew her hair was turning back to its natural colour.

Scorpius looked at her from the corner of his eye. There was the slightest upturn on the corner of his lips as his shoulder brushed hers.

When they reached their table again, Lily was struck by the familiarity of the picture that greeted them. Felix was laughing his usual carefree laugh — the one that crinkled his eyes and made lines appear around the corner of his mouth — while Dom snickered and Alicia rolled her eyes.

"Finally!" Dominique exclaimed as she spotted them. "You're back. We really should get going."

"Where are you guys going?" Alicia asked as Dominique gathered her stuff and got up.

"Muggle London," Lily answered for her.

"We're doing some lingerie shopping," Dom looked Alicia in the eye, "wanna come?"

"Sure."

Lily looked at the two of them in surprise. Never in a million years would she think this scenario would be real. Dominique asking a Slytherin to join them and Alicia actually saying yes? She must have stepped into an alternate universe when coming back to Diagon Alley.

She looked at Scorpius whose only trait betraying what he was thinking was a raised eyebrow. His eyes met hers and she could see amusement in the grey-blue swirls.

"Well…" she was at a loss of what to say, "I guess I'll see you around?"

"Yeah," Scorpius nodded. He seemed to be considering something, his jaw working as his brows furrowed a bit. "I—" he cleared his throat and looked like he decided what to say at last, "There's a bonfire next week in West Wittering. Do you guys want to go with us?"

"Chichester, West Wittering? As in muggle London?" Dominique asked before Lily could say anything.

"Yep," it was Felix who answered, "Jack's organising the whole thing."

"You mean he's paying someone to do it," Alicia butted in.

"Same thing," he waved her off, "there's one every year. You'll like it a loooot."

"Okay," Lily laughed at the way he elongated the word and emphasised the 't', "we'll be there."

"Good," Felix nodded with a mockingly serious look on his face before a huge smile broke through the facade, "now, you weren't planning on leaving without giving me a kiss goodbye were you?"

Lily laughed once again before sauntering over to where he was sitting. She stopped just behind him and leaned her forearms on his shoulders so she could lean down and kiss him on the cheek noisily.

She usually wasn't like his, so free of inhibitions and quick to initiate physical contact with anyone she wasn't close to. The thing about Felix, though, was that he made her feel like they were close with a simple smile that crinkled his midnight blue eyes. He made her feel like they were best friends already and that it was all right to take these kind of liberties with him.

"All right, let's move it, bitches," Dom waved at the guys and started towards the Leaky Cauldron, " I heard Victoria's Secret is on sale."

Lily followed her and Alicia down the road before something made her look back. Her eyes met Scorpius' darkened ones and she felt a thrill go down her spine when she realised he had already been looking at her. She really tried to stop herself from smiling at him, she really did, but then the asshole winked at her and she couldn't be held accountable for her actions.

When she finally turned back to the girls they were both looking at her with grins on their faces, Dominique's a bit more teasing. Lily waited for the onslaught that was sure to follow as they reached the Leaky Cauldron.

Her cousin wasn't dumb by any means. If she hadn't figured out with how familiar she'd been with him, she surely put the pieces together with this last exchange. But, still, she said nothing.

When they finally reached muggle London, Lily had had enough of the suspense.

"All bloody right, Dominique, just say what you're gonna say and be done with it."

"What do you mean, dear cousin," Lily's glare was cold enough to freeze, "all right, chill." She laughed then a mischievous look crossed her face. "No wonder you've been in such a sex haze, I heard his cock is huge."

Lily gasped as Alicia laughed loudly. A mother carrying her child glared reproachfully at them.

"Come on, Lils, you can't deny that," Alicia threw an arm around her shoulders, her slighter stature bringing Lily down.

"How do you know that, Zabini?" Dominique asked, her grin still present.

Alicia let Lily go. She adjusted her purse on her shoulder and waved her other hand in clear dismissal.

"Oh, please. We grew up together. I've probably seen him starkers more times than all the girls back at Hogwarts have."

"Wow, that's saying something," Dominique whistled.

.

.

.

 _Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you all had a great day even if you don't celebrate Christmas yourself! Consider this my Christmas gift for you, hehe, and expect a little something for New Year's Eve as well._

 _Thank you all so much for reviewing, favouriting and following this story, especially the anon guests who I can't reply personally!_

 _So I want to know what you guys are thinking so far, where do you hope this story will go and for you guys to answer me this:_ What do you think about my Draco going to live with the muggles headcannon?

 _See you soon,_

 _~Juliette Deschemps_


	8. Chapter VIII

**That Summer Chapter VIII**

Lily Potter was a woman on a mission that morning. One could tell by the decided way she walked down the stairs of her family home. And if the determined look in her hazel eyes wasn't enough clue, the slight upturn of her chin let everyone know not to get in her way.

She paused on the living room to get a handful of floo powder and turned to look at her brother. Albus was in Frank Longbottom's house with his friends from Gryffindor but James was sprawled on the sofa. He had been spending his first summer after Hogwarts working with Fred at uncle George's store and if he wasn't out with his friends, one could usually find him in the exact same position he was at that moment. Dead centre with his legs spread, a console between his hands and eyes glued to the telly.

He looked up from his game briefly before his eyes went back to the screen. "Going somewhere, lil' sis?"

There was no suspicion in his voice as there would have been in Albus' and for that Lily was glad. James was protective of her, sure, but never overly so. Maybe it was because with Albus and her Dad there was enough overprotectiveness going around but he never was as overbearing as they were.

"Yeah, see you later," she shot him a charming smile, hopping he wouldn't press for more information but she didn't have to. He barely looked her way as he sent her a kiss.

"See ya'," and that was that.

Lily shrugged and let the powder she was holding slip through her fingers at the same time she announced clearly Alicia's address.

She was amazed at the sight that greeted her. The living room she stepped into was the most beautiful she had seen so far. The floor was made of pure white marble and was covered in some places by Persian rugs and the walls were littered with big Victorian windows that reached the ceiling.

There were a couple of comfortable looking settees and two sofas around a small wooden coffee table. The paintings on the wall were all about the sea and the blue on the canvas complimented the colour of the furniture nicely.

Lily was completely blown away by how beautiful everything was.

She made a full turn around the living room and was so entranced with the posh mansion that she almost jumped three feet in the air when she saw that the double doors right in front of her were open. Someone was standing there.

"Salazar's bollocks!" Her hand went to her heart to see if she could slow its erratic beating.

The man on the doorway was tall and lean. He was wearing a silky blue muggle suit with a crisp white shirt underneath and no tie. He was holding a suitcase in one hand and a muggle styrofoam cup of coffee in the other and his eyes held no surprise at seeing her there even if one of his eyebrows were raised.

"Who are you?" He asked at last.

Lily was caught for a moment thinking that this man was undeniably hot and felt her cheeks flush. He had a chiseled face and smooth black hair and his skin was just a touch darker than Alici—

Bloody hell.

This was Alicia's dad. This was Alicia's _dad_ and she'd just cursed in front of him.

When he just continued looking at her expectantly Lily shook herself out of her stupor and answered his question.

"Lily Potter, sir." She cleared her throat and tried to compose herself. "I'm terribly sorry for just barging into your house like this."

His eyebrows rose even higher.

"Potter?" He asked incredulously before he composed himself. An amused sort of snort escaped him. "Are you friends with my daughter?"

"I'd like to think so, sir," Lily tried to keep her tone of voice steady and polite like she usually did when talking to a teacher or someone older.

"I heard about Saint Potter's offspring joining our house, but I guess I couldn't truly believe it unless I saw it with my own eyes," Blaise's gaze was analytical as it settled on her.

"I can't say I haven't heard that before," Lily replied truthfully and perhaps a tad more spirited than what was warranted.

"One would think so." The man muttered almost as if to himself before releasing a sudden huff. "Well," he crossed the distance between the two of them and set his briefcase down before offering her a hand, "it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ms. Potter."

Lily sputtered as her widened eyes followed his hand. This was the first time a classmate's parent treated her like an equal right off the bat. Usually she had to win them over with her carefully crafted charm and grace.

Suddenly remembering herself, Lily quickly moved to shake his dark hand.

"Likewise, Mr. Zabini," she made sure to meet his gaze unwaveringly and was rewarded with a kind of surprised grin from him.

"'Pleasure to make your acquaintance.'" A voice mocked from the entrance to the living room. "What are you, father, a hundred years old?"

Alicia was leaning on the doorjamb, looking as flawless as ever even in simple sweatpants and cropped shirt. She grinned at her father teasingly before her eyes fell on Lily. A slightly surprised look crossed her features before she settled for a raised eyebrow.

"Cute," Blaise spoke before Lily could, "but do you know what's even cuter? When you were five and didn't make fun of your sweet, old father."

Alicia snorted.

"You are neither sweet nor old, father."

"See," he smiled at his daughter and the crowfeet at the corner of his eyes were the first and last indication of his age, "that's why you're my favourite child."

"I bet you tell Anton the same thing when I'm not in the room."

Blaise laughed. "I would never!" He winked at his daughter before offering a nod and a smirk to Lily. "I have to get going, I'm already late as it is."

"I thought you were already at work, what are you still doing here?" Alicia asked him while he moved past Lily to the fireplace.

"I was almost there when I realised I'd forgotten my briefcase." Blaise shot her a lopsided smirk when Alicia shook her head at him. "I'll be going now. It was nice to meet you, Ms. Potter."

And with that he was gone in a swirl of emerald green flames before Lily could reply.

She turned to Alicia with a raised eyebrow and tried to contain what she was sure was hysterical laughter bubbling in her belly. The other girl smiled at her.

"He seems to like you," she offered and Lily couldn't keep from snorting in amusement at that.

"I don't know about that," Lily stepped closer to her and kissed her cheek in greeting.

"Hey, love, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" She mocked her father's way of speaking.

"Sorry to have come unannounced like this." Lily said as they made their way to Alicia's room. "I need you to get dressed. We're going out."

Alicia laughed a bit as they climbed up a beautiful set of stairs. The white marble continued from the living room through the hallway to the steps where it was covered in the middle by smooth blue velvet.

"Nonsense, you're welcome here any day at any time." She offered Lily a small, kind of sheepish grin that had her chest filling with warmth. "Mind telling me where we're going, though?"

Lily smirked mischievously at her.

"We're going to help Malfoy with his ridiculously empty flat."

.

.

.

Felix didn't answer them when they texted him. He didn't even pick up the phone when they actually called him. Lily got worried after the fifth unanswered call but Alicia assured her that he was probably just with his family because of the party today.

"Party?" Lily asked as Alicia pulled on some jeans and a light shirt to match Lily's outfit.

"Yeah, Xander turns 17 today."

"Xander Nott?"

"Yep."

Alexander Nott was Charlie's older brother and Felix's cousin. He was in Scorpius' year and a beater for their team. Lily quite enjoyed his company. He was the classic heartbreaker but seemed to sense he had no chance with Lily because he treated her like one of the boys. He had made her feel part of the team this year but they weren't exactly close.

Lily and Alicia went downstairs to the living room chatting amiably. Alicia went through first and quickly disappeared in the flames. Lily grabbed a handful of floo powder before she stepped into the heath and announced Scorpius' address clearly.

She felt the heat of the flames before the world started to spin around her. After a while she saw his living room and stepped out of the fire into the spacious room.

Lily could hear Alicia in the kitchen rummaging in the cupboards.

"I'm going to make some coffee, you go on and wake Scor up," her voice was almost lost because of the sound of water running.

Lily hummed in consent before moving to the hallway that led to his room. The door was open and the light streaming from the windows was almost blinding.

Lily had no idea how he managed to sleep so late without curtains.

He was a sight laying on his belly, tangled with his dark sheets. His hair was a mess around his head, blond tresses reflecting the sunlight and slightly tanned skin shinning.

Lily carefully made her way to the side of the bed he was turned to and sat down next to his head. She brushed his hair away from his face and lowered her mouth to his year.

"Wake up," she muttered before taking a quick bite at his earlobe.

He didn't.

Lily huffed and leaned back to see his face. His brow was slightly furrowed and his nose the slightest bit scrunched but he didn't seem any closer to waking up.

Time to up her game then.

She moved to his ear again and started pressing kisses from the top to where it met his neck. She moved the kisses to his nape where she bit down. Hard.

Scorpius groaned.

Lily tried not to smile in victory before she used her tongue to circle the area she abused. By the time she started sucking on it she knew he was awake because she suddenly found herself underneath him with only the sheets beneath them.

"Morning," she said cheekily when he blinked his eyes open and tried to focus on her.

"Potter?"

He looked so confused, sleep still clinging to him stubbornly as he supported himself above her.

"Hmm," she hummed an answer before moving her mouth to his jawline.

"I—" he started to say but was cut off by a groan when she simultaneously hooked her legs around him to bring him closer and sucked on his pulse point.

"Oh, for Salazar's sake." Alicia said from the doorway. "I didn't come here so you guys could shag."

"Fuck off, Ali," Scorpius mumbled in her neck.

Lily sniggered but pushed him off her as Alicia made her way back to the kitchen.

"Come on, get dressed, we're going out."

"Out?" He still looked a bit confused but sleep had been replaced by arousal and now his cheeks were a bit flushed.

"Yes," Lily pushed herself out of his bed and tried to pull him with her, "we're going to decorate your place today." She pulled on his hand some more, but he didn't budge. "Malfoy, come on, I don't have all day."

"I don't want to go out," he raised an eyebrow at her making her huff and let go of him, "I want to stay here on this bed and fuck you all day long." He said in the low smooth tone he usually reserved to the bedroom. The way his voice was still rough from sleep was positively sinful.

Lily felt her cheeks burn immediately as heat pooled low in her belly. He seemed to know the effect he had on her if his wolfish smirk was anything to go by.

Lily rolled her eyes and steadied her voice.

"Take a cold shower and get dressed. There's coffee in the kitchen when you're ready."

And with that she left the room. It was one of the hardest thing she had to do because if she was being completely honest with herself, what he suggested sounded like a much better idea than going out but nevertheless. She was a woman on a mission and that mission was to furnish his whole apartment.

Or at least buy him some bloody curtains.

.

.

.

They spent the day shopping.

The first thing they bought was some curtains for all of his flat including the bathrooms. From there they alternated between muggle London and wizarding London to buy random appliances and furniture. It was quite fun and the hours seemed to flow by because it was suddenly time for lunch.

They went into a muggle restaurant near the entrance to the Ministry and asked for a table in the back. When they were seated and waiting for their orders, Lily's phone rang. It was Felix.

"Hey, Felix," she answered before taking a sip of her white wine.

"Hello, darling, sorry I didn't answer before. I was helping the family set up Xander's party."

In the background she could hear Claren Nott, Charlie and Xander's mother, asking him to let go of his muggle contraption and help change the sofa.

She laughed.

"It's all right. I was just wondering if you wanted to furniture shop with Malfoy, Alicia and I," she explained.

"Oh, come on," he complained, "I can't believe you guys went out without me."

"Sorry, love," she replied apologetically while Scorpius and Alicia both sniggered.

Scorpius stole the phone from her too fast for Lily to react.

"We're absolutely not sorry, you wanker, you should have come."

Lily looked at Alicia and they both shared an exasperated look. Scorpius huffed a laugh and looked at her.

"Felix is inviting you to the party," he said.

Lily shook her head. "No way, I heard it's basically a family party."

"She doesn't want to go because she thinks the snakes will eat her alive," Scorpius said into the receiver.

"Hey, I didn't say that!" She exclaimed outrageously. She wasn't scared, she just didn't think it would be polite to attend something like that.

Scorpius grinned at her.

"Xander wants to talk to you," he passed her the phone.

"LILY! LILY, CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

"You don't have to shout, Nott, I can hear you just fine," Lily laughed.

"You absolutely must come, Lil' P!" He lowered his voice just a bit but still continued to shout.

"If you say so..." Lily shook her head at that.

"YES! See you soon then." He went silent for a bit. "Oh, _shit_. Felix! How do I turn this bloody thing o—"

Then the call was disconnected.

"Well, I guess I'm going then," Lily shrugged her shoulders at Scorpius and Alicia.

"Great!" The other girl grinned happily at her. "Want to go buy something to wear today? We can change in my place and walk there."

"Not necessary." Lily shook her head. "If you guys could Apparate me home, I'll change real quick then floo to your place."

Alicia pouted.

"Do you have a swimsuit to wear? It's going to be a pool party..." she trailed off. "Are you absolutely sure you don't want to go shopping?"

"Yes." Lily laughed a bit and tried to ignore the puppy eyes being directed at her. "Unlike you I don't have the money to be shopping every week."

"You're no fun..." Alicia muttered to her wine.

When they finished their lunch, Scorpius Apparated her to the Apparition point in Godric's Hollow and left after sending her just a wink and a rushed 'See you later'. It was probably for the best that he didn't linger in her family's lane — uncle Ron and aunt Hermione lived there too and it was just too unpredictable for him to stay long — but she would have liked something more as a goodbye. She shook the silly thoughts from her head and set down the street.

Lily walked to her house quickly and was relieved to see there was no one there. She tore her clothes from body in a rush, not even bothering to put them away.

She had to be quick or they would be late.

She chose a bikini aunt Fleur had given her from her last visit to France. It was a one piece with a beautiful flower print that complimented her colours and she had never worn it before.

She paired it with white sandals and some cutoffs, grabbed a jacket, a sun hat and her purse and then left.

When Lily stepped out of the fireplace, Scorpius and Alicia were already waiting for her in the living room.

"You look gorgeous," Alicia complimented her as they made their way down the street.

Alicia lived close to Charlie and Xander in Lancaster Lane. It was where most of the wizarding high society lived nowadays and there was not one terrain that didn't contain a mansion. Most of the purebloods had chosen against living in the same manors they used to live in during the war be it because of all the bad memories or because they were taken by the Ministry. Lancaster Lane was where those who had stayed in Britain relocated to.

"Thanks! You too, darling," Lily shot her a smile and tried to focus on anything but the feeling of Scorpius' arm brushing hers every now and then.

The Nott's mansion was as beautiful as she remembered it from last summer. She had only seen the living room briefly and Charlie's room when she'd been there but from what she remembered the decor was impeccable.

Lily followed Scorpius and Alicia through the side gates that lead directly to the backyard and was immediately struck by how loud it was.

They must have charmed the place because the minute she stepped foot in their back lawn, the Midnight Thestrals could be heard blasting through speakers she couldn't see. House Elves had charmed bright colourful drinks and frozen bottles of butterbeer to float around the pool area where everyone sat.

Mathew Flint and Jonathan Corner, two Slytherins from Scorpius' year and Xander's best friends, were inside the water with Charlie. They were the first ones to spot them and they immediately started waving enthusiastically and hooting.

Lily suspected the colourful cocktails weren't as virgin as she first thought.

They were still quite far away from the pool — their backyard was ridiculously gigantic — but Lily could now see that the back of the ground floor was completely made of glass.

Everyone's parents were sitting in the living room in small groups and drinking white Elven wine. It took a moment for that information to sink in but when it did she promptly pulled on Scorpius's arm to make him walk besides her and let Alicia guide the way.

"Your parents are here," she hissed in his ear.

"Yeah?" He looked down at her with a frown.

"You brought me to a place where your _parents_ could see us?" Lily asked incredulously. Surely he had some kind of ulterior motive, because letting any adult see them together this early in their… whatever-they-had-going-on was just a dumb move.

"They're not seeing anything, Potter." He rolled his eyes at her but she could see a shadow pass them. "Chill."

"I don't know if you've noticed," Lily tried to reign in her temper at his obvious dismissal, "but the wall is made of glass, Malfoy."

"Quite the observational skills you got there." He snorted and the only thing Lily wanted more in the world at that moment was to punch him in the throat and run the hell away from there. Something must have shown on her face because Scorpius's eyes while still cold and unreadable softened a bit. "I'll keep my distance, okay? They won't suspect anything unless you give us away."

Lily suddenly realised that he was feeling at least a fraction of the unease she felt. Scorpius also didn't want his parents finding out about them and that would have comforted her if another realisation hadn't set in.

He was apprehensive because he thought she would give them away.

That stung a bit, honestly. It made her feel incompetent and sad and because she was feeling incompetent and sad she felt angry. Who the fuck did he think he was? Was she just another of his fangirls in his eyes? Did she really appear that desperate around him?

She would show that stupid arse. He wanted her to keep her distance and to play cool? Well, she was going to be a fucking glacier.

For the rest of the party she didn't look at him. Felix distracted her right as they reached the pool, hugging her and spinning her around as Alicia and The Big Arse went inside to talk to their parents. She gave Xander a birthday hug and said hello to the boys.

Charlie seemed particularly happy to see her and she caught herself feeling the same. He was one of her best friends and it was always a welcomed experience to see him over break.

Claren Nott came outside to greet her and to tell her that she could make herself comfortable, that all the adults would most likely stay inside and let the 'kids play' outside. Claren was a serious woman but Lily had long since won her over and was always treated with respect.

During the whole party there was only one incident when Felix decided to jump with her into the pool but Lily didn't mind much. The heat had been getting to her and she had felt herself close to snapping at Scorpius. Felix's way of preventing a fight was unconventional, sure, but it did the trick.

She left way after the sun had already set without uttering a single word to Scorpius.

.

.

.

Astoria Malfoy twirled her white wine graciously as her husband played distractedly with the ends of her tidy ponytail. They were seated around one of the tables overlooking the backyard with her sister and her husband and Theo Nott and Pansy Parkinson, talking about their children.

She kept her attention divided between the conversation going on around her and the kids outside. Though they could hardly be called kids anymore, she mused.

They were all of age and Scorpius was living on his own. Even before her son turned seventeen, the tales they shared about their children shenanigans at school were cringe worthy at the least.

Not to mention that one time she and Draco had arrived early from a date because of a fight and caught Scorpius in a rather compromising situation with Amanda Bulstrode, a Slytherin witch two years older than him. Astoria had never seen a girl get up from their knees so quickly before.

A flash of red caught her attention outside.

"Who's the girl?" She asked the group, interrupting whatever Pansy was saying about how she thought Felix was gay.

They all turned to look as Felix picked up a svelte red-haired girl and threw her over his shoulders. He smacked her bikini clad arse soundly before jumping into the pool with her. The girl's shrieked 'Felix!' could be heard even from inside.

Draco raised an eyebrow at Pansy.

"Still think he's gay, Pans?" He said with a smirk.

Pansy huffed and mumbled something about having taught the boy better manners than that. Astoria looked away from the scene when she heard Blaise bark a laugh.

"That right there, ladies and gentlemen, is Lily Potter," he said.

"Potter?" Draco spluttered from besides her, almost choking on his wine.

Astoria merely raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, that's Dray's precious enemy's daughter?" Pansy asked teasingly before a delighted laugh escaped her.

"Potter isn't my precious anything, Parkinson," Draco snarled viciously but was wholly ignored by the rest of them.

"Yep," Blaise said, "she flooed to my house earlier this morning, looking for Ali."

"Why didn't you tell me this?" Daphne asked while hitting his arm with her free hand.

"Sorry, dear, completely slipped my mind," Blaise tried to placate her.

"So it's true," Theo said speculatively, "a Potter in Slytherin."

"Scratch that." Pansy shook her head in disbelief. "A Potter who is close friends with _our children_."

Everyone hummed in agreement with that statement. Never in their wildest dreams — or rather, nightmares — would they have imagined the Potter and Weasley offsprings being friends with their kids.

"She was very polite this morning," Blaise looked to be almost lost in thought, "the perfect example of a Slytherin lady." He nodded. "Completely different from the stories we hear of the rest of the Weasley bunnies back at Hogwarts."

"Do you think Felix fancies her?" Pansy cocked her head to the side.

Daphne snorted into her cup.

"No more than he fancies Alicia, darling." She grinned thoughtfully. "It seems like our babies have a new best friend."

They all watched as she got out of the pool and squeezed the excess water from her dark red hair with far more grace than her whole family put together. Felix got out next to her but in a movement that was almost too quick for them to see she pushed him back in while making it look like she accidentally hit him with her arm. If it wasn't for the devilish smirk on her face, Astoria might've believed her.

Pansy laughed outright as her son broke the surface once again and immediately began shaking his head to get water out of his ears.

"Idiot." She said fondly. "He should have known by now not to mess with a Slytherin girl."

"She is fast," Draco muttered, barely hiding the appreciation in his voice.

"I heard that she's a Seeker for Slytherin's team," Theo provided and with that the conversation changed to how great their old house's Quidditch team was right now and how they won House Cup.

However, Astoria tuned them out as she focused her eyes on the Potter girl.

She possessed far more grace than expected of someone not born into it. She made sure to dry herself with her wand and to style her hair in a ponytail much like Astoria's before applying more sun blocking lotion on her shoulders.

The girl seemed to fit in just fine with her son's closest group of friends and that was intriguing.

She sat next to Alicia while Felix left to get them more drinks like she had done that many times before. But she couldn't possibly have been this close to them, Scorpius had never written any letters home talking about a possible friendship with a Potter.

Perhaps he didn't consider her that much of a friend as the other two did? He was sitting quite pointedly at a distance from her.

Too obviously so, Astoria thought with narrowed eyes.

Lily Potter had her back slightly turned to her son while she engaged Alicia in conversation. It didn't seem forced at first glance but that coupled with the fact that her son seemed to have measured the exact distance between them to be considered appropriate raised Astoria's suspicions.

Suspicions those that were confirmed when the girl got up to assist Felix and brushed past Scorpius without a single glance in his direction. She could feel the coldness in the action even from far away.

But it wasn't the girl's actions that made her eyes widen minutely as she finally understood what was going on.

It all would have been expected behaviour between a Malfoy and a Potter if her son hadn't reacted the way he did. It was nothing for the untrained eye or for someone who didn't know him like Astoria did. Merely a glance, inconsequential, some would say, but Astoria Malfoy knew better.

She stood quite a while in silent amazement because her son's eyes had watched the girl go and the minute she returned with their drinks, he avoided her gaze.

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 _HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!_

 _I'm so sorry this took so long, but you guys have no idea how hard this chapter was making itself to write hahaha Writer's block hit me full force and I was close to giving up on this fic altogether, tbh. Thankfully, I managed to get past it! I've been doing some editing on the previous chapters because, honestly, you guys, it was a mess. There's still so much more I want to write for this story, I hope you all stick around!_

 _Again, I can't thank you guys enough for all the reviews, follows and favourites I got until now. You guys rock! Let's see if we can up our game this chapter and try 10 reviews?_

 _I hope you liked Astoria's POV, there's more to come._

 _See you soon,_

 _~JulietteDeschemps_


	9. Chapter IX

**That Summer Chapter IX**

Lily got home that night completely exhausted and smelling like chlorine to find her mother in the kitchen, making some cucumber sandwiches.

Ginny Weasley's hair was in a smart bob, the red locks perfectly straight unlike Lily's whose strands were darker and wavier. No thought was put into styling it, as usual, but it was still very pretty. Her mother's figure was lithe like hers — something she no doubt took from Grandpa Arthur — and the clothes she normally wore for office were modest but she still managed to be a sight in them. Lily admired her mother's looks for a while before the older red head turned and smiled at her.

"Hi, honey, you're just in time for some late snacks."

"Hey, mum," Lily stepped closer to kiss her on the cheek.

"You look pretty." Her mother complimented her and ushered her to sit in one of the chairs. "Where were you?"

"Thanks." Lily accepted one of the sandwiches and took a bite. "Xander's party."

"You didn't mention a party," Ginny scowled at her.

"Sorry, I found out about it today," Lily smiled apologetically at her mum and wished she wouldn't pry.

"Who is Xander?" Her mum looked at her with a mischievous grin that made Lily think of uncle George. "Your boyfriend?"

"No!" Lily laughed and scrunched her nose in disgust. "Definitely not. He's Charlie's older brother and the beater for our team."

"Hmm…" Her mum hummed in mocking suspicion before she dropped her facade and sniggered. This was one of those moments where Ginny Weasley showed that even though she was thirty-nine with three fully grown kids, she hadn't stopped being 'firecracker-Ginny' from her teenage years. "Who was there?"

And mum-Ginny was back, just like that.

"Not many people," Lily shrugged, "just his closest friends and family." Lily continued eating and prayed her mother wouldn't pry.

She did, of course.

"Well?" Ginny raised an eyebrow at her.

Lily breathed deeply and exhaled slowly.

"Mathew Flint and Jonathan Corner," she started, "they are both in Xander's year. Charlie was there, of course, and also Felix Nott, Alicia Zabini and Scorpius Malfoy." She held her breath, preparing for the her mother's reaction.

"Malfoy?" And there it was.

"Yes, mum," Lily said, trying to calm herself.

"Isn't he the one your brothers and cousins are always complaining about?" Ginny furrowed her brows.

"Yes, mum, him and every other friend I have." Lily couldn't keep the defensiveness out of her voice. "I don't know why you asked."

"Lily, dea—" Ginny tried to placate her, but it was too late.

"No, mum, really." She got up. "You knew you were going to hear about a bunch of people with surnames you hate and that you know nothing about, so why ask?"

"I'm sorry," her mum said emphatically, interrupting the rampant she was about to go into.

Lily felt herself deflate. She didn't want to fight with her mother, so like a good girl she forced a smile on her lips after she took a deep calming breath.

"It's okay." She could see the worry in her mother's eyes. "I'm tired, I'm going to bed now. Goodnight."

"Night, sweetheart," her mum muttered sadly but Lily didn't stay long enough to see the disappointed look in her face.

She almost sprinted up the stairs. A nice long bath would surely ease the tension in her shoulders and the guilt weighting her

Or so she thought.

Lily went to bed after spending close to an hour in the water without feeling sleepy at all and ended up tossing and turning well into the early hours.

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.

Her dad's birthday party was the usual hectic affair it always was every year. Nana Molly had made enough food to feed an army, but by the end of the night there was barely any leftovers.

Lily stayed mostly with Dominique and Louis — who had come back from managing his clothing boutique in France for the event — and avoided any type of confrontation with her brothers, cousins or, Merlin forbid, uncle Ron.

She made sure to say hello to all the teachers present, including Headmistress McGonagall. They all seemed happy to see her, but their gazes held something unknown, as if they had a secret they were just dying to say and that made Lily feel a bit anxious.

When the time came for Harry to open his presents Lily had to fight not to fidget in her seat. She had chosen to give her gift after everyone else so she had to do a lot of waiting.

They were all outside, the kitchen table enlarged and the cushions from the living room transfigured to more tables to accommodate everyone invited. Her dad was standing next to his snitch shaped cake; the gleam in his eyes unmistakable.

Even after all those years, he still got emotional when everyone was gathered and he got to see the people he loved. Once, when she was seven, he had confessed to Ginny as Lily drifted in and out of sleep on her mum's lap that he always thought those moments to be great even if it did remind him of all the people they had lost.

"Now the only one that's missing is Lily's," Nana Molly announced.

"Here you go, daddy," Lily quickly made her way to her dad's side and pecked him on the cheek, "happy birthday."

She watched as he slowly opened the wrappings. His face turned confused at first before realisation slowly set in. His features brightened as Lily started to explain how it worked. That's the only way she could describe it; her dad beamed at her as pride shinned in his eyes.

"I thought this way you wouldn't have to worry about us. You'll always know if we're safe." She barely got the whole sentence out before her dad was hugging her tightly.

"This is brilliant, flower," he squeezed her, "thank you."

"I told you we should have gone with the Foe-Glass," Lily heard Albus hissing to James.

She was so satisfied with herself it was hard not to puff her chest out in pride. She settled for a wink to her brothers and a smile.

The rest of the party dragged on in Lily's opinion.

The only thing that kept her amused was people watching. After a while, all the alcohol started to take effect in the adults and at one point Hagrid had begun dancing with uncle Ron and singing a love song about a giant and a mermaid — though it could be about anything else, really, she couldn't tell with how badly he was slurring the words — obnoxiously.

It was fun seeing them making such a fool out of themselves, but then uncle Neville had a small incident while dancing with aunt Hannah because he twirled them right into one of the tables and aunt Hermione had quickly put a stop to it all and everyone started to go home.

By the time she was showered and changed into her pyjamas she was completely spent. She was asleep before her head even hit her pillow.

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.

Two days later and it was the day of the bonfire. Lily left to Alicia's mansion just after lunch. It hadn't been easy to convince her dad to let her sleep in her friend's house, but after some help from her mother and a carefully crafter lie about sleeping at Lola's there she was.

"Lily!" Alicia smiled from her position on the sofa. "I thought you'd never come."

"Sorry, I couldn't decided on what to wear," Lily admitted sheepishly and motioned to the backpack she was carrying over her shoulders, "I feel like my whole closet's in here."

Alicia snickered and put her book in one of the many white marble coffee tables. She got up, excitement clear in her movements, and grabbed Lily by the hand.

"Come on," she pulled her through the double doors and down the hallway. "I'm just so excited for my birthday present." She giggled happily as they made their way to her room.

The blue velvet on the floor muffled the girls' footsteps as they stormed up the stairs in a rush of giggles and the sun shinned brightly through the gigantic was already in love with that house. It was the perfect mix of modern and old fashioned.

She got there earlier because they figured they could kill two birds with one stone and get ready for the party while taking pictures for the photoshoot Lily had promised Alicia as a gift.

The girls had spent the rest of the afternoon taking pictures and eating junk food. The house was filled with laughter but now, as the sun begins its descent, different sounds could be heard.

"What the fuck should I wear?" Lily exclaimed loudly as she rummaged around her backpack. She had her whole arm inside it due to the carefully thought out expanding charm and no matter how many outfits she took out, there were still more.

"Okay, hold your hippogriffs, Potter." Alicia finished the last touches on her deep red lipstick and grinned at Lily from the reflection on the floor length mirror hanging from one of the walls in her room.

Lily groaned in frustration and fell on Alicia's king sized bed, her head buried in the mountain of clothes that littered the white bed covers. She heard Alicia snicker and felt the shift in the bed as she sat down.

"Com on, get up." She pulled Lily by the wrist. "Go put on your makeup and I'll pick something for you."

"You're the best," Lily bounded to her feet and grinned at her before going to do as she was told.

"What time is Weasley coming?" Alicia asked as she sorted through Lily's mess.

"She should be here anytime," Lily mumbled as she focused on her wand movements.

Just then a house elf appeared with a pop next to the bed. Its bigger flopped around its head as it bowed deep.

" 'Scuse I, Miss Alicia," its bright blue eyes looked watery as it looked up at Alicia, "there is a Miss Weazy downstairs wanting to see you. Says she's expected but the Miss didn't say anything about another friend coming."

"I'm sorry, Lippy." Lippy the house elf looked about ready to start hitting her head over the wall as she wrung her tiny hands, "I completely forgot to let you know. Did you mean Miss Weasley?"

"Yes," Lippy bobbed her tiny head up and down, her ears following the movement, "Miss Wea-zy."

"Tell her to come up, please."

"Yes, Miss Alicia," Lippy bowed again, "Lippy is terrible sorry." She popped away before Alicia could say anything else.

"I thought you would jump three feet in the air when she popped here." Alicia cocked her head in Lily's direction. "You didn't even blink. I'm impressed."

"I do have a house elf, you know," Lily replied as she turned to look at her friend.

"Really?" Alicia looked surprised, "I thought your family was against it."

"Aunt Hermione is against it," Lily corrected as she shrugged her shoulders, "the only other person that agrees with her in the family is Rose."

"Of course," Alicia rolled her eyes just as Dominique barged in the room.

"You know, your house elf may be really close to pitching herself down the stairs," she fell on Alicia's bed unceremoniously and blew her bangs out of her face.

"Hello to you too, Dominique," Lily teased as she looked back in the mirror to fluff her hair.

"You guys aren't ready, yet?" Dominique ignored Lily, charming as ever. "We should get going soon."

"Yes, we should," Alicia murmured as she pulled some items out of the pile of clothes, "the guys should be here soon. Aha! There you go, Lils, put this on."

She handed Lily a cotton cropped spaghetti top and some cutoffs.

"Wear this with your white converse and," she elongated the syllables of the last word as she fished a dark blue and black stripped shirt, "put this over everything."

"You're a fashion genius and I love you," Lily grinned at her and hurried to put on the clothes.

She didn't bother feeling embarrassed by Alicia's presence as she stripped completely. She stood in only her green laced knickers for a while and looked at the other two girls.

"No bra, right?"

The door suddenly opened and Scorpius walked in. He quickly turned around and covered Felix's eyes when the boy followed him inside.

"Definitely," he smirked at Lily and closed the door behind them.

"Perv," Lily rolled her eyes but had to lower her head to hide her blush as she felt his eyes on her like a caress.

"Hello, ladies," Felix waved in their general direction, "I can't see you but I'm certain you look lovely as always."

Lily hurried to put on her clothes before anyone could notice her body's reaction to Scorpius' gaze. Her nipples had hardened at his attention and the fine hairs on her arms stood on end; she really hoped the conversation the group engaged in kept them from noticing. When she was finished, Scorpius released Felix who came bounding to her.

"Hello, Lils, love," he kissed her on the cheek and gave her what she was finding to be his characteristic smile. The one that made small crinkles on the corners of his mouth and eyes.

"Hey, Felix," she couldn't help but smile back at him.

He jumped on the bed between Alicia and Dominique but Lily barely noticed it because then Scorpius walked up to her and stood between her and the bed where their friends were.

"That was quite a welcoming sight, Potter," he said teasingly, a small smirk pulling at the corner of his lips.

"Shut up." She felt her cheeks burn again but quickly recomposed herself and stepped past him so she could look at everyone. "Let's go?"

They drove to the beach in Scorpius' car — a bloody Lamborghini Aventator that had been magically enlarged to fit them all. Honestly what a pretentious git he was to be flaunting that spaceship around — and stopped in a makeshift parking lot. A couple of dozen equally unnecessarily expensive cars were in a circle around a bonfire.

The group quickly joined the other partying teenagers and hurried to catch up on their drinking. Jack joined them in their dancing for a while before jumping to other groups. Anything could be said about Jack Barnes but no one could deny that the guy knew how to throw a party and how to be the perfect host.

Felix was the first to separate from their little group. A beautiful blonde had been giving him some pretty intense looks for a while until he finally decided to go for it. Not long after, Dominique left them to dance with a cute muggle boy across the fire and Alicia mumbled something about more drinks before disappearing and never coming back.

Now it was just Scorpius and her.

It felt natural when the hand that had been kept noticeably away from her finally came to rest on her waist and pulled her closer. It only felt natural too when her hands looped around his neck and it really was no surprise when their lips met.

Lily didn't know if it was because of the strange energy around the bonfire — the way it made her feel calm and happy — but this kiss was different from all the others they had before.

They kissed slowly, almost lazily, and even though the kiss grew in intensity they didn't go any faster. His teeth nibbled on her bottom lip teasingly and she groaned in his mouth while bringing him closer.

Scorpius had a cigaret in one hand and her ass in the other as they kept their relaxed making out. The hood of his coat was up, which kept Lily from doing what she really wanted to do, which was to run her hands through his silky locks and pull on them to bring him closer still.

Half of her body was hot from the fire and the other half was cold from the cool breeze coming from the ocean, but even with the difference in temperature Lily felt her whole body burning as their kiss progressed.

Good Merlin, how she wanted him.

She wanted his taste on her tongue, his body on hers and his scent all around her. She wanted him and she wanted him _now_.

She broke the kiss just enough so she could whisper against his lips, "Apparate us to your flat." Her insides were shaking in need and the jerk had the nerve to chuckle.

"Needy little witch," he murmured back at her teasingly but still let his cigaret drop to the ground and pulled away from her. "Wait for me here, I'll give the car keys to Felix."

He didn't take long and before she knew it, Lily was being pulled to the darkness beyond the circle of cars.

She should feel scared. Really, she should. A guy she was only getting to know was taking her to a dark and secluded place; any person would be making some excuses right about now. But somehow the fear didn't come as he guided her farther away. Her whole body was thrumming with energy and she could barely contain a pleasant shudder when he pulled her to him.

They were finally far away enough to disapparate and not be heard and Scorpius did so without so much as a warning. One second Lily's feet were on fluffy sand and the next she felt like she was being pulled through a tiny straw before her feet hit solid ground.

Side along apparating wasn't a pleasant experience but Lily was used to it by now. The nausea of being squeezed barely reached her now. As soon as she caught her breath, she raised on her tiptoes to let their tongues continue their dance.

Scorpius palmed her arse through her clothes lazily before breaking the heady kiss and dragging his mouth down her neck teasingly. His hot breath on her skin caused goosebumps to rise all over her and a slight shiver ran down her spine.

Lily pushed his coat away from his shoulders and let it fall to the floor as he worked on the buttons of her shorts. His hands were hot on her slightly cold belly and she almost moaned from that sensation alone. She _did_ gasp when his teeth encased her collarbone sharply. His tongue immediately came to soothe the small ache as she began tugging his shirt up.

They didn't even step apart as he discarded the fabric before pulling Lily's from her as well. The second her top was on the floor his arms were encircling her. The hard planes of his chest drove her mad as they brushed her sensitive nipples when he pulled her in for another scorching kiss. She fingered its ridges as he slowly lowered her to the bed before scooting back towards the pillows.

Scorpius' lips were suddenly on one of her nipples, bitting and sucking teasingly as his hand rolled the other between his fingers. He swallowed the moan Lily couldn't contain with his mouth and groaned into the kiss as she trailed her nails lightly down his abs. Pleasure pooled low in her belly and her breath hitched in her throat as he moved his hand to fondle her through her knickers.

He broke the kiss to bite her earlobe teasingly, "So wet for me already." His voice was dark silk and made her inner walls clench in response.

She felt there were too many clothes between them so she quickly set to work on his jeans, opening the button and getting the fly down while 'accidently' brushing him with the back of her fingers before pushing the material down his hips. When her hands couldn't get any further he reluctantly got up from the bed to finish the work.

His darkened eyes roved over her figure, "You're so bloody beautiful," he murmured with a slight shake of his head, almost as if he couldn't believe it.

Lily felt hot all over not only from his words but also the intense look he was giving her. Their eyes met as he stepped out of his jeans and black boxers and she felt like she was falling on the abyss that were his grey irises. The dark swirls of blue in them were almost nonexistent by how much his pupils were dilated and how dark they'd become.

She reluctantly broke their staring match to let her gaze slide down his body. She traced each defined muscle in his chest with her eyes before they followed the trail of fair hair from beneath his navel down to the darker patch circling his erection. His thighs were powerful like a chaser's should be and made her insides quiver with what those muscles were able to accomplish.

He was breathtakingly handsome and the sight of him alone made her want to moan.

Scorpius looked at her through hooded eyes and slowly brought his hand to his length. Lily exhaled loudly as his brows furrowed slightly and his mouth slacked when he gave two slow pumps. She could only watch in fascination as his thumb slowly traced his slit.

"Please," she sighed.

His look of concentration morphed into a small smirk as his hand left his cock. Lily felt her cheeks burn as she realised what she'd said but it didn't matter much when Scorpius obliged and came back to cover her with his body.

She pushed her fingers through his hair and used the strands to bring his mouth to hers, greedily tasting him as he spread her legs to settle between them. Scorpius ground himself against her slowly, almost teasingly, extracting a low moan from her. The friction of him and her lace knickers on her core felt nothing short of amazing.

"Fuck," she mumbled when his mouth left hers to suck on her neck. He continued his rocking movements slowly until she felt she was about to break. "Sweet Salazar, please."

Scorpius groaned in her ear, the sound so guttural it almost sounded inhuman, "Merlin, I love when you beg."

He pushed himself to his knees and leaned back enough so he could take the only scrap of clothing remaining off her. His hands trailed from the inside of her legs until he reached the apex of her thighs. His fingers trailed her slit slowly before his middle finger slid inside her. Lily mewled high in her throat at the feeling of him stretching her when he added a second one.

Scorpius set a slow, torturous pace as he closed his mouth around her nipple once again and started laving her chest with attention. She brought her hands back to his hair and tugged lightly to get him closer as she opened her legs further. More wetness flooded between her legs as she ground her clit against the palm of his hand and Lily moaned loudly.

She made a pitiful sound of protest when he pulled out of her but was rewarded with the feeling of his cock sliding upwards between her lips. Lily gasped out loud when his head hit the small bundle of nerves and sent pleasure rocking through her body like an electric current. Scorpius groaned deep on his throat when Lily brought her hands down on his back and scratched her nails lightly against his muscles in response.

He entered her in a smooth motion that took the breath right out of her. Her walls stretched even further to accommodate his size and the pleasure the friction created was almost blinding. She was desperate for more but the asshole took things excruciatingly slow and it seemed like an eternity had passed before he sheathed himself completely inside her.

Scorpius kissed her deeply before resting his forehead against hers and setting a slow pace. His thrusts were powerful, his pelvic bone brushing her clit every time he went all the way in, and stole wanton moans from her lips but he didn't go any faster and it was driving her insane. She had been on the brink of coming when he had been playing with her with his fingers and now she felt it would only take a single touch more before she went spindling down to a ground shaking climax.

The catalyst came in the form of a rough moan from the man on top of her. It was ridiculous to say she came because of how he sounded but she had been on the edge for so long and teased with his slow but hard thrusts that it really didn't take much for her. The waves of pleasure washed through her languidly, her walls clenching and unclenching around him and yet he didn't falter on his strokes.

By the time Lily came to herself, sweat was covering both of them in a light sheen and they were both panting on each others mouths. Scorpius didn't even give her time to breathe before he eased himself to his knees and grabbed her hips. He used his hold on her to lift her from the bed slightly and angled her just so that when he moved inside her, he brushed the sweet spot that made her see stars.

Lily moaned loudly in time with his thrusts and used her feet to help her hips move in time with his.

"Oh, Merlin," Lily panted before whimpering in pleasure. She needed to grab something to ground herself but he wasn't in reach anymore so she settled for the sheets. She turned her head to the side and moaned loudly.

"Look at me," Scorpius panted.

With great effort, Lily turned to him. Her eyes widened as she saw the intense look reflected in his. It was a heady feeling, having him look at her like that, all his focus on her. He was a sight. All his muscles working to keep her hips up and sweat sliding down the planes of his delicious abs and the sides of his face. His hair was soaked in it and Lily eyed in fascination as a drop fell from the strands to his collarbone.

Scorpius' thrusts became faster and more powerful, the sound of his skin on hers echoing around the room alongside her moans and his groans. She choked on a sob when his thumb descended on her clit to trace tight circles around it. The pleasure was almost too much as she felt the tension building inside her snap with the last thrust he gave before spilling himself inside her.

Lily felt hyper aware of every part of her body that came in contact with his as he came to rest on top of her. She felt her muscles relax and hummed contently as he nuzzled her neck in post coital lethargy.

"Happy now?" Scorpius murmured teasingly before sucking on her neck slowly.

"Hmm," Lily hummed again, "extremely."

He chuckled and the vibrations of his chest awakened her passion once again when he unconsciously pressed her clit with his body. She didn't know where she found the energy to want more, but she did. The gasp that escaped her wasn't ignored.

"You want more?" He said in her ear before letting his tongue trace it. "Greedy little thing." He teased in that voice that never failed to send a rush of pleasure between her legs.

Lily felt him slip out of her only to have his fingers replace him. It wasn't as good as his cock so she complained even as she suppressed a moan, "Can't keep up, Malfoy?"

Scorpius growled and bit her shoulder hard before disentangling himself completely from her and rising to his knees. He moved to sit against the plush pillows and indicated for her with his chin.

"Let's see you put all those Quidditch skills to good use then."

Lily snorted and turned to position herself on his lap. She put her hands around his neck as she sat on his thighs, his half-hard cock between them.

"Are you seriously going with the 'wanna ride my broomstick' line?" Lily bit his lower lip before sucking it into her mouth. She felt his smirk on her lips.

"You know by now that I prefer a more direct approach, love." He grabbed her ass and moved her so she was grinding on his length slowly. A low groan escaped her as he grunted and she felt him twitch in response. _"Ride_ _me_ , Potter."

Lily couldn't refuse him if she tried.

She kissed him heatedly and pulled on the hair on his nape, stealing a grunt from him. She let her hands trail from his chest to his chiseled abdomen after grazing his nipples with her nails. Scorpius groaned into her mouth as her hands descended further before finally grabbing him in a firm grip.

She glided one of her hands up and down his shaft while the other cupped his balls and rolled them lightly. Lily wanted to keep teasing him but when he broke the kiss to let a long groan out in the space between their mouths, she couldn't hold herself back anymore. She needed him inside her _now_.

She guided him to her with one hand and used the other to balance herself on the headboard. A moan escaped her lips as she sat fully on top of him, this position making him go impossibly deep inside her. She wanted to have the patience to tease him like he did her but she wanted to come so much that she didn't think she could.

She settled for a pace that wasn't fast but was definitely faster than his had been. The hand that wasn't being used to support her angled his jaw so she could kiss him passionately as his own altered between squeezing her hips and grabbing her arse.

Lily couldn't concentrate on the kiss anymore because of how fucking _good_ he felt inside her so she broke it and settled for letting her nose brush his when she moved up and down. She moaned and gasped as her clit brushed against his pelvic bone and how he reached her sweet spot inside her when she put both hands on the headboard to help her move faster.

She had been so sensitive from her two previous orgasms that it didn't take long before she was coming yet again. This time the pleasure crashed into her fast and hard, her vision out of focus from how intense it was. She was pretty sure she cried out but she couldn't focus enough to be sure.

She only realised he had come too when she finally slipped back into reality and felt him softening inside her. Her forehead was resting on his shoulder while his mouth pressed hot wet kisses on her neck. They stayed like that for a while, panting together as they came down from their highs before Lily brought her face back to look at him.

"How was that for Quidditch skills?" She grinned at him.

He chuckled lowly before smirking at her and answering, "Outstanding," Then he was pulling her for a kiss.

.

.

.

They apparated directly to Alicia's bedroom the next morning and Lily was immediately regretful of that decision. Alicia wasn't wearing anything. Thankfully she was on her belly and the white sheets covered half of her lower body. Her hair was spread around her like molten chocolate and a bump on the covers covered the other side of the bed.

And it was moving.

"Fuck off, Scorpius," Alicia grumbled against her pillow without even opening her eyes.

"How did you know it was us?" Lily finally recovered from the shock of seeing her friend like that.

"Lily?" Another voice called from beneath the bumps and—

Holy Merlin.

The bump was _Dominique_.

She slowly raised herself from beneath the covers and glared through sleep filled eyes at Lily and Scorpius. Her hair was a mess but she was still wearing the oversized shirt she wore last night.

"Dom?" Lily gaped at her for a while and flundered for something to say. "I, uh— you…" She trailed off.

Scorpius snickered and tapped her chin, "Close your mouth, love," he moved with his usual catlike grace towards the grand windows and leaned against it.

Lily cleared her throat and shook her head a little to clear it. She never caught any bisexual vibes from Dominique before so she was floored. There would be time to discuss things with her later, though. They were late for lunch at the Burrow.

"We need to hurry, Dom," she sounded apologetic but she wasn't sure why, "we're late for lunch."

She watched as her cousin widened her eyes and jumped out of bed as if she'd been scalded. Scorpius moved to the connected bathrom and Dominique skipped around the room looking for lost articles of clothes.

She hadn't really noticed before but the room was a mess. Her clothes that had been previously on the bed were now lying on the floor mixed with different articles that belonged to the other girls.

Scorpius came back with three identical purple vials on his hands and handed one to each of the girls.

"A curtesy from your uncle." Lily now realised that she was holding Wealsey's Wizard Wheezes' Hangover B'Gon. "Bottoms up, ladies."

The effect was immediate; her slight headache instantly disappeared, her vision cleared and her mood even got better. The faint queasiness she felt since waking up was completely gone.

Lily handed her now empty vial back to him and grabbed her wand from her waistband to move all her clothes to her bag. She then did a quick scorgify on her coat to get rid of any lingering smell of cigaret smoke.

"See you later, darling," Lily kissed Alicia's messy hair and moved over to Scorpius when she mumbled a response. His hands moved to her hips in a movement that was becoming disturbingly familiar.

"Bye," he murmured in the quickly diminishing space between their mouths as his hands closed more firmly around her.

"Bye," their lips brushed as she spoke. Flashes of the precious night and even this early morning suddenly flooded her minds eye, but before the kiss turned into a proper one a throat cleared behind them.

"We're late, shits, and I don't feel like dying by Nana's hands anytime soon." Dominique was holding Lily's bag in one hand and her wand in the other.

"Charming as ever, Weasley," Scorpius snorted while Lily stepped out of his hold and grabbed Dominique's arm.

"Blow me, Malfoy."

The last thing she saw was the smirk on Scorpius' face before she closed her eyes to ward off the impending queasiness.

The lawn on the Burrow's outskirts brushed against the skin above her converse where they landed just outside the mismatched fences. Lily moved away form Dominique and opened the latch in front of them.

There was no lock but Lily knew that countless wards were in place, leftover from the war. The Burrow was no longer hidden but still, not a single person with malicious intent could enter the Weasley's terrain.

"So… you and Alicia?" Lily probed, a slight teasing tone to her voice as they made the short track uphill to get to the front door. Dominique snorted.

"So, you and Malfoy?" she raised an eyebrow pointedly at her. Her tone was guarded. Lily could hear defensiveness in her voice so she decided to let it go for now.

"Touché, cousin," she raised her hands as if in surrender.

She didn't get to hear Dominique's response because they had finally reached the door. It was open to let the warm summer breeze in and Lily could see most of her family sitting around the living room.

"Hullo, family."

She was met with silence as conversation ceased completely.

Okay, this was weird. Everyone usually greeted each other with the Weasley's characteristic enthusiasm, but today all they got was odd looks.

Some of her uncles and aunts and a few of her cousins were giving them disapproving looks. Definitely weird. The others were looking at them with pity on their faces. Yep, something was seriously wrong.

Just as she realised that their grandparents and Dominique's and her parents were the only ones absent, Hugo bravely walked up to them.

"They're in the kitchen," he said then in a normal tone of voice before following with a low whisper, "You're so fucked."

Lily shot an apprehensive look at Dominique and saw her emotions reflected in her cousin's face. She was't stupid. Her parents and Dominique's were absent and waiting for them on the kitchen the day after they lied about going to Lola's house and went to a party instead and Hugo's comment just confirmed that they knew.

Now was a matter of figuring out just how much they knew and, of course, do some damage control. Lily could lie through her teeth if she had to. Now she just had to make sure Dominique wouldn't blab anything unnecessary in a fit of Gryffindor stupidity and quick temper.

"Let me handle this," she whispered so just Dominique would hear, just before they opened the door to the kitchen.

She didn't look back to see any sign of agreement from the blonde because suddenly she was face to face with the furious face of her dad. His hair was even messier than usual — probably from him running his hands through it — and his face a tone of red that nearly matched uncle Ron's when he was in full rant mode.

He was sitting in a chair right in the middle of the kitchen table with her mum on his left and uncle Bill on his right. Next to her uncle was Dominique's mother and Grandpa Arthur sat on the head of the table. Nana Molly was bustling around the burner while simultaneously using her wand to enchant a dirty pan to wash itself.

"Care to explain this?" Harry didn't waste any time in grilling them. He threw a magazine at her which Lily only managed to grab because of her seeker's reflexes.

The front page contained a moving photo of her and Scorpius.

For a second she stopped breathing. Her features were carefully schooled into a blank look but her brain seemed to be having troubles catching on to what was happening. How did they end up on the cover of Witch Weekly when the party was a muggle one?

She quickly read the first few lines of the article and got her answer. Apparently, some muggle blogger had posted a video of the party online because of the people that went — mostly muggle upper crust, rich kids who were famous for being just that — and a muggleborn editor of Witch Weekly had seen it.

While she read it she realised something else; the only name mentioned was hers. That meant they didn't know it was Scorpius.

She quickly checked the picture again and her suspicions were confirmed. Scorpius had his hood up and the angle of the camera, while catching them snogging and him holding a cigaret, failed to show any of his features.

Lily tried to contain a relieved sigh and fought hard to keep quiet and not babble apologies and explanations that would surely give them away. She sent a silent thank you to Merlin for Dominique actually keeping her mouth shut.

She didn't have to wait long for someone to speak because her grandmother suddenly rounded on them with fury in her eyes.

"This is absolutely no way a lady should behave, Lily Luna!" The screech was loud enough that both Lily and Dominique flinched. She caught her mother and uncle barely repressing the same reaction. "Just who is that boy with that disgusting stick and touching you so inappropriately?"

"He's just a muggle, Nana," Lily replied with a low, calm voice.

"A muggle, you say?" Grandpa Arthur interrupted what was sure to be a tirade from Nana Molly, a look of fascination on his face.

Lily suddenly hoped for the best because at least only grandma was talking and grandpa Arthur didn't really seem angry at all.

Those hopes were dashed, of course, when her dad spoke. "You said you would go to Lola's house," he said calmly but Lily could hear the fury in his words, "you lied to us."

"I'm guessing you didn't go to her house either," uncle Bill raised his eyebrows at his daughter. The only response he got was a curt head shake.

"I can't believe this," her dad continued, "that you would lie to my face so shamelessly. I knew they were bound to influence you, but this..." He gave a short mirthless laugh.

Where before he seemed to have been piercing her with his stare, now his eyes seemed to bounce everywhere as if he couldn't even look at her. Even as Lily felt cold from how disappointed he seemed at her, she couldn't help but feel her own temper rising.

" _They?_ " She questioned dangerously, almost daring her father to say it.

Her mum interrupted him. "Your dad doesn't mean anything by it, dear, he's just disappointed with your behaviour," she seemed to add as an afterthought, "we both are."

"No, I do mean it!" Her dad exclaimed. "Slytherin has changed you and this is the proof."

It felt like a slap to the face. Lily tried to keep the hurt from her face and covered it up with a sneer. He wanted to judge and shame her? Well, she would give him Slytherin then.

"I can't believe you said that to me," she hissed.

"There, right there," he pointed his finger in her direction, "that look in your face is exactly what I mean. That bloody sneer is just like—"

"Harry!" Her mum placed a hand on his arm and gave him a warning look. "Let's all calm ourselves down. Mum, I don't appreciate you lecturing my daughter like that. I didn't teach my children to differentiate between a lady's behaviour and a gentleman's so you shouldn't either. Harry," she stared so intensively at him it was almost a glare, "don't say anything you'll regret later."

Lily was too angry to appreciate her mother standing up for her, though, and so was Harry, it would seem.

"You won't leave the house until school starts again," he muttered darkly.

"What?" Lily exclaimed. "That's a month away!"

"You should have thought of that before you lied to me!" Harry roared.

Lily dimly registered Dominique shooting her own parents pleading looks but she was too busy glaring daggers at her dad.

"Fine!"

"We'll discuss this when we get home," aunt Fleur said to her daughter in her barely there french accent.

"You may be seventeen but you still live under our roof, you know," uncle Bill said crossly and looked at the table unhappily.

"Later, Bill," her aunt admonished him gracefully.

"Lunch is served," Nana Molly said, cheeks flushed from her own daughter's reprimand.

Lunch was a tense affair. For a moment no one dared to speak as they ate. Uncle George quickly tried to do some damage control and engaged Hugo in some talk about school and soon enough they were all laughing and joking around. Still, everyone's shoulders remained tense, her dad didn't utter a single word to anyone and Nana Molly was more subdued than usual. She didn't even complain when uncle George shot a pair of fireworks at the table.

Usually when lunch was finished everyone would disperse. Some would stay and eat dessert at the table, others would move to the living room to listen to the radio and some would even go outside to play some Quidditch.

Lily found herself darting into her Grandpa Arthur's shed before she even finished chewing her last bite.

She took a look around, seeing his collections of cables and outlets and running her fingertips on top of an old television. She dropped on top of the tiny overstuffed orange sofa and fingered a loose thread before deciding to take out her phone.

She saw some unanswered messages from Lola asking about the party and that the group Alicia, Felix, Scorpius and her had held the icon to indicate three unread messages.

She quickly typed Lola a short version of what happened and opened the group chat. Felix had taken a photo with Scorpius's car and sent another message with a cheeky, 'I got your baby kidnapped, what are you willing to pay for ransom, handsome?'

Lily felt a ghost of a smile on her face as she saw the next line of kissy face, eggplant and water emojis. He was incorrigible.

Scorpius had replied with a simple, 'going 2 ur place rn' and that was that. What a killjoy, Lily rolled her eyes.

She decided to tell them what happened and to see if there was anyone there to keep her occupied until her parents wanted to leave. She saw the three dots icon pop up just as the door to the shed opened.

"Ah, I thought I saw you heading this way," uncle George said as he popped his head in.

"Came here to lecture me on how unladylike it was of me to snog someone?" She said sarcastically but still made room for him in the sofa.

He closed the door behind him and started rummaging in his father's mess. A short laugh escaped his lips.

"Fuck no."

Lily couldn't help but laugh with him. "What are you looking for?" She peered at him curiously. She watched as he pulled a bottle from behind a box full of lamps.

"This," he proudly presented her with a bottle of Quintin Black's Finest. Uncle George then sat down next to her and promptly took a swig of the bottle before offering to her.

"Are you gonna tattle?" She asked unceremoniously.

Uncle George barked a laugh. "No way, Flower, you know you're my favourite." Lily figured that was good enough so with a shrug she took the offered bottle from him and sipped expertly at it. "Figure this isn't your first time either, so..."

"Hmm," Lily hummed and passed the bottle back to him, "did you know one of my best friends owns that?" She pointed at the bottle.

"Yeah," he nodded his head then narrowed his eyes in thought, "the one from the graduation party, right?"

"Right on," she let her head fall on the back of the sofa and sighed.

"We all heard the fight," her uncle took another sip, "I thought you might need this."

"Thanks," Lily huffed.

"That was some bloody terrible luck, you know?" He said easily.

Lily raised an eyebrow at him. "Aren't you going to say that it was wrong of me to lie?"

"I don't think I can say that without being very hypocritical," he smiled at her, his bright blue eyes crinkling in a manner that reminded her of Felix, "it was a foolhardy plan, I would have done the same if I were you. You only got caught because the universe likes to take a shit at us sometimes."

Lily laughed outright at that. "Thanks, uncle George." She watched as he winked at her and got up to hide his booze. "Just so you know, you're my favourite too."

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 _Precisely 10 reviews later and here we are! The response to the last chapter was insane you guys, I love you all! I was so happy and so inspired by your reviews that the next day I wrote about 5,000 words, no kidding. Sorry this took so long, but I had a trip scheduled and couldn't find the time to proofread everything while away from my laptop..._

 _Fortunately, I have the most amazing friend who took time off her schedule to check everything over for me_ and _to post this chapter, so big shoutout to wolfqng, you're my soulmate, babe, thanks!_

 _11 more reviews and I'll post a chapter as soon as I come back on the 28th! Tell me what you think so far!_

 _See you soon,_

 _~JulietteDeschemps_


	10. Chapter X

**That Summer Chapter X**

The next day from the Burrow's fiasco Lily found herself laying on a spread towel on her backyard, enjoying the sun. She was working on her tan, which was coming along wonderfully, mind you, while reading the latest edition of Witch Weekly and listening to some music on her muggle cell phone.

It was the perfect afternoon, really. Or rather, it would have been if she hadn't been a weird mixture of angry and undeniably _bored_.

Her dad was giving her the silent treatment and her brothers were barely home while her mother tried to work out a way to get her alone. But Lily didn't want to talk to her. Not right now, at least. She'd rather stay angry for a while longer, thank you very much.

Her phone suddenly stopped playing the song and her ringtone went through. She looked at her screen to see Scorpius' picture—the one she'd taken with him shirtless in bed—displayed on it.

Lily felt her heart soar before it soon plummeted lower than her stomach.

She didn't know what she was feeling towards him at that moment. After Xander's party she kind of ignored her resentment towards him and just rolled with it. It wasn't exactly hard to get lost in the huge sex haze cloud that came along with Scorpius Malfoy and that was kind of annoying.

Lily thought for a second of not picking up but in the end she couldn't. She knew it was kind of petty of her to be angry at him for how he reacted at the party because she did understand that he was only anxious about his parents finding out. But still.

Still. It was hard for her to simply let it go.

"Malfoy," she said into the receiver in the driest tone of voice she could manage.

"Potter," she heard him drawl from the other end. No matter how mad she was at him, she couldn't help the shiver that went down her spine at the sound of his low rumble.

"You don't usually call me," she said.

"Hmm," he hummed, "I don't, indeed. But you don't usually get grounded because of an incriminating picture of us."

Lily snorted. "You can say that again," she murmured and tried to fight a smile and keep her voice as unfriendly as possible.

There was a pause where Lily refused to give in and blab something at him before Scorpius spoke again.

"Are you angry at me?"

Another pause.

"What makes you think so?" Lily said sarcastically.

"I don't know." He kept his tone of voice light. "Maybe the fact that you're being unnecessarily catty and were giving me the cold shoulder at Xander's." Lily didn't reply. "So it is about the party," he concluded.

Lily sighed tiredly and rubbed her fingers on her face.

"This is stupid," she mumbled.

"It is," he agreed. There was another pause where it sounded like he was turning around in the sheets before she heard a sigh coming from his end. "But I do suppose I should apologise."

"Malfoy, look," Lily tried to say but was interrupted.

"No. It wasn't fair to imply that you would be the one to give us away."

There it was. Simple and not at all apologetic but still a lot more than she'd expected. Lily really had thought he would just ignore what happened like he did at the bonfire and move on with his life so this was a pleasant surprise. This was the closest to an olive branch she would receive from him and she wasn't petty enough to turn it down.

"Yeah, well," she leaned back to stare at the sky, at a complete loss of what to say, "thanks?"

Scorpius chuckled lowly and she felt herself relax at the sound.

"You're welcome. So," he said lightly, "are you stuck in there for the rest of the summer?"

"Seems like it," Lily played with the blades of grass around her moodily.

"Want to phone sex?"

Lily chocked on a laugh and abruptly sat up to cough on her hand. She looked around to confirm there was no one there and saw she was still alone.

"You're shameless."

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.

.

Hogwarts letters came on a lazy Sunday morning when the Potter family was having breakfast. Lily had been studiously ignoring her dad—and everyone on the table, really, but mostly her dad— and was currently scarfing her pancakes down as fast as she could so she could get the fuck out of that table.

The school owl dropped three letters in the middle of the kitchen table.

Albus quickly grabbed them all before Lily could and sorted through them. He tossed Lily two of them and tore into the last one.

"Two?" Lily asked no one in particular as she opened the lighter one first. It was a short missive written in professor McGonagall's neat handwriting in green ink.

"I can't believe I didn't get Head Boy," Albus whinged.

"You got Quidditch Captain, son," Harry encouraged him and Lily felt her stomach churning in envy at the attention her brother was receiving, "that's huge."

"Yeah," Albus said slowly. He took out his shinny prefect badge and looked it over before shrugging, "I guess."

Lily didn't even have to suppress an eye roll at his antics because she was too preoccupied with McGonagall's letter.

"What is this letter about, sweetie?" Her mum asked.

Lily gulped. "Uh, I don't know." She shook her head a bit. "Professor McGonagall asked for us to come to Hogwarts at half past two today."

"Us?" James asked her after he stoped discussing Quidditch strategies with Albus in hushed tones.

Lily shook her head again. "Just mum, dad and I."

She felt anxious thinking about what it was the Headmistress wanted to talk with her parents about but she knew it wouldn't do well to be stressing about it right now. Feeling completely detached, Lily opened her other letter and took out her O.W.L. results first. She felt the weight of her prefect badge but ignored it for a while and read the results.

And promptly felt her chin drop.

"Well?" Her mum asked. "How did you do on your O.W.L's, honey?"

Lily shook her head, her eyes wide. Albus and James snickered quietly and she could feel her dad's gaze on her.

"I—" she trailed off and tried again, her head still shaking. "I got an E in Divination..."

"That's it?" Her mum asked worriedly while her dad scoffed.

"And—uh," she cleared her throat and continued in a whisper, "and nine Outstandings."

"No way," Albus snatched the paper out of her limps hands before exclaiming again, louder this time, "no way! Not even Rose managed to get an O in every subject she took."

"Congratulations, Lily!" Her mum exclaimed excitedly before laughing in delight. "This is amazing!"

"Looks like we have a genius for a little sister, Al," James grinned at her while Albus continued to look at her like she'd just sprouted wings.

"Congratulations, flower," her dad looked at her with a surprised but subdued look on his face.

Lily felt warmth spread in her chest as he said that and even felt some of her anger dissipate. He still wasn't looking at her normally but this bit of excitement was enough for her for now.

"Thanks, dad." She said quietly before an incredulous laugh escaped her. "I can't believe this." She whispered to herself.

"Maybe professor McGonagall wants to see us to congratulate you on your grades?" Her mum ventured as she started on the dishes. "I don't think anyone in Hogwarts' history ever managed that. Not even Hermione."

"Maybe," Lily mumbled but she doubted it. A letter would have sufficed if that was the case. Her thoughts were interrupted when her phone started ringing, though. She knew by the ringtone—the instrumental of a particularly dirty Midnight Thestrals' song— who it was. "Hey."

"Hello, love," his deep baritone made a small grin stretch her lips. "Guess what?"

"What?" She asked, laughing lightly. Her mum looked at her curiously.

"I made Team Captain," he drawled, "and Head Boy."

Lily threw her head back and laughed before getting up and moving to the living room. She didn't need her family listening to this conversation even though she knew they could still hear her if she spoke loud enough.

"I knew you'd make it," she said as she made a slow turn around the coffee table

"Oh?" He asked curiously.

"I figured if Albus didn't get Head Boy, you would." She smiled even though he couldn't see. "Congratulations, Malfoy. I have some news of my own."

"Do you now?" He asked in a lower timber and Lily had to fight down a shiver.

"Yep," she kept her tone of voice light, "I got nine O's and one E in my O.W.L's."

"Salazar's bollocks, that's fucking amazing," Scorpius said incredulously, his usual calm and controlled exterior broken.

Lily laughed. "Thanks." She heard a car horn through the receiver. "Are you driving?"

"Yeah," Scorpius replied, "I'm going to Malfoy Mansion."

"You shouldn't talk on the phone while driving, Malfoy," Lily scolded him. She heard her mum calling from the kitchen for her to come back and help tidy everything up.

"Don't worry, love," she could practically hear his smirk as she begrudgingly made her way back to the kitchen, "you're on speaker."

"I better be." She quickly used her shoulder to support the phone and set to work with her mother on the sink. "We don't need you crashing that ridiculously expensive car of yours."

Scorpius laughed lowly from the other end. "I'll tell Alicia and Felix of your great news," he said.

"Oh, yeah. Tell them I said hi," Lily communicated with only a look to her mother that's she'd wash while her mum dried.

"Will do. Are you still grounded until summer ends?" His voice was cool as ever, never betraying any interest.

"Yeah," she sighed, "I'm only allowed to leave the house to go to the Burrow."

"That sucks." Lily scoffed. "I guess I'll talk to you later then? I really wasn't kidding about my earlier proposition."

"I know you weren't." Lily rolled her eyes. She didn't think she'd had the guts for phone sex. "Still not happening, though. Talk to you later."

"I'll still change your mind, Potter," his voice held all kinds of wicked promises.

"Yeah, good luck with that," she grinned cheekily even though he couldn't see her.

"Later, love." Then he hung up.

Lily dried her hands before putting her phone in her back pocket and continued to wash the dishes as if nothing had happened. Her mum wouldn't let it go, though.

"Was that Charlie?" She asked. "I didn't know he owned a muggle phone."

She could have lied. She had a killer poker face and her voice never wavered even when she lied right in someone's face but for some reason she didn't. Of course, that didn't mean she would tell the whole truth.

"He doesn't." She said lightly. "It was another friend, calling to tell me he got Head Boy and Team Captain."

"Who got Head Boy?" Aunt Hermione asks as she and the rest of her family came in by the kitchen door.

Uncle Ron quickly interrupts the conversation with a rambunctious "Good morning, Potters!" and Lily mentally thanks him for his timing. That is, before Rose decides to open her mouth as everyone apart from Lily and Ginny are sitting around the table.

"Did you get Head Boy, Al?" She asks and Lily freezes minutely before going back to washing her dishes.

"Rosie got Head Girl!" Uncle Ron exclaims and aunt Hermione rolls her eyes at his excitement. "And Hugo got five O.W.L's."

Lily finds that the tips of her cousin's ears have turned an adorable pink.

"Lily got _nine_ Oustandings and one Exceeds Expectations!" Ginny gushed.

Aunt Hermione focused her gaze on her and raised her eyebrows in surprise. "How many subjects did you take?"

"Ten!" Ginny answered for her excitedly. "She didn't fail a single one!"

"All right, mum," Lily laughed, "that's enough."

"Nonsense," Ginny waved her hand as if dismissing the idea, "we have a genius in the family, I get to brag."

"That was very impressive, Lily," aunt Hermione complimented her. Lily smiled at her and was going to thank her but Rose spoke before she could.

"Yeah, that's great, but tell me Albus did you get Head Boy or not?" She asked impatiently.

Albus furrowed his brows sulkily and shook his head. "No," he shrugged in nonchalance so false Lily fought the urge to cringe, "I got Quidditch Captain, though."

"Oh, no," Rose put her her elbows on the table and her head in her hands, "oh, no, no, no. That means that pompous ass got Head Boy." She had a suffering look on her face that made her features scrunch up unattractively.

"Malfoy?" Albus thundered outrageously. "That git got my place as Head Boy?"

Lily felt her body freeze yet again and closed her eyes hopping no one would turn that on her even as anger burned inside her because of how they were speaking of the blond boy.

"Ooh, are you butthurt, Al?" James laughed but visibly backed off after the look their mum shot him.

Uncle Ron scoffed. "His dad must have bribed someone. That's how his sort go about life."

Lily felt herself close to shaking with rage at that comment. Her hold on the plate she was washing was so tight her knuckles had turned white. She was about to turn around and shout in indignant support of her friends but yet again someone spoke before she could.

"Wait a second." James narrowed his eyes in thought and turned his gaze on his sister. "Didn't you say your friend called you to tell he got Head Boy?"

Lily fought hard to keep her expression cool and impassive. It was just her luck that James decided to use his observation skills at that moment. She washed the soap suds out of her hands slowly before turning around to face her family. No one spoke for a while before Albus exploded.

"You're friends with that slimy git?" He was looking at her incredulously. "Blimey, Lily, where's your sense of loyalty?"

"What does loyalty have to do with it?" Lily asked calmly.

"You wouldn't know," uncle Ron muttered under his breath before aunt Hermione kicked him soundly beneath the table.

She watched as Albus opened and closed his mouth at a loss of what to say for a while before he finally decided on something. "But he's an _asshole_."

Lily rolled her eyes. "He's fine."

She really had to trade carefully here. If she was too blasé about it, her mum would smell what she was trying to hide in a second. On the other hand, if she was too hardcore in her defense of him they all might acuse her of something more.

Thankfully, her mum intervened.

"If your sister says so, we have to trust her judgment." Lily didn't let her surprise show as she continued. "He called you on your muggle phone?"

Lily nodded a bit dazedly. "Yeah, he was practically raised in muggle London."

"No, he wasn't." Rose narrowed her eyes as if she was trying to figure something out. "He couldn't have been."

"Why not?" Lily challenged her. She raised an eyebrow at her cousin. "His dad moved to the muggle world after the war and set up a house in London."

"Why, yes, that was in Draco Malfoy's file." Aunt Hermione butted in. "The Ministry used to keep tabs on him every six months or so."

Lily found her way out of the conversation now that the heat wasn't on her anymore. "Anyway," she shot her mum a tight grin, "do you mind if I go to my room now to get ready?"

Her dad furrowed his brows. "Your cousins just got here."

"I know," she turned her grin to the people on the table, "sorry, everyone. We have an appointment with the Headmistress soon and I'm a complete mess. It'll take hours just to get my hair to play nice."

Lily didn't give anyone a chance to reply or to further rally her on the subject of Scorpius Malfoy. She saw the disappointed look on her mum's face and her aunt's curious glances but she gave them no notice as she picked up her letters and left the room while studiously avoiding looking at her dad.

No one commented on how her hair was perfectly coiffed in a low ponytail.

.

.

.

Lily and her parents flooed to the Headmistress office at precisely half past two.

She made sure to wear something that was fitting for the occasion and donned on a respectable black dress that while it contoured her body nicely no one could say it was vulgar. It had short sleeves and was slightly off the shoulders, paired nicely with the very nicely polished high heeled mary janes she usually wore for school.

Lily finished the look with her most treasured piece of clothing. It was a velvet cloak that stood firmly in between muggle and wizarding fashion that was black on the outside and emerald green on the inside. Teddy and Victoire had given it to her on her sixteenth birthday and it went with absolutely everything in her closet. She always wore it when she had to go to a decidedly wizarding affair, nowadays.

When they got to Hogwarts she quickly used her wand to get the soot out of her hair and clothes and also took the chance to check her half-ponytail for any flyaways.

Headmistress McGonagall was sitting behind her table regally. Her spine straight, glasses on and hair in an elaborate bun completed the severe look she always had about her. The smile on her lips was surprising to say the least. Lily's eyes drifted momently to the wall behind the old witch as her parents exchanged pleasantries with her and they were all asked to sit down on plush chairs on the other side of the mahogany table.

Albus Dumbledore looked at her from the top of his half-moon goggles with a deceptively sweet look on his twinkling blue eyes. Your average person wouldn't notice how his look held a cold appraisal to it but Lily grew up with snakes and she had learned to know what to look for ever since she joined these halls. She met his gaze head on.

The old man behind the frame chuckled.

"Ms. Potter," the Headmistress addressed her.

"Professor McGonagall," Lily greeted her politely with an incline of her chin.

"I'm sure you have heard of him," the older witch indicated the wall behind her with a perfunctory hand wave, "this is professor Dumbledore."

Lily let her gaze lock with the portrait again. "It's a pleasure to meet you," her voice was polite but she was certain the old wizard caught on to its undertones. He knew she was aware he'd been assessing and judging her from the moment she stepped into the office.

"Likewise, Ms. Potter." The lines around his eyes deepened as he smiled. "Ah, Harry, Ginny," he turned his attention to her parents, "it's been a while since I last saw you two."

Her father smiled up at the old man. "It's good to hear your voice, professor."

Lily suddenly felt the need to speed things up. She didn't particularly like this slow exchange and the old man while not threatening was seriously beginning to piss her off with his calculating looks.

"May I ask why you called us in today, Headmistress?" Lily turned her attention back to professor McGonagall and gave her a slightly bewildered and completely fabricated smile. Not that anyone could tell.

The old woman chuckled. "We're here do discuss your academics, Ms. Potter."

"Is something wrong?" Ginny asked with a furrow between her brows.

"Not at all," professor McGonagall said with a glint in her eyes, "quite the contrary, in fact."

"Where are you going with this, Minerva?" Harry asked.

"Patience, Mr. Potter." She looked at Lily intently. "Never in the history of Hogwarts has this happened, Ms. Potter. I want you to think carefully about what I'm about to propose to you."

Lily cocked her head to the side. "What is it, professor?"

"The school board and the teachers have unanimously decided that you, Ms. Potter, are perfectly fit to take your N.E.W.T's this coming school term."

"You mean..." her dad began speaking.

"Yes, Mr. Potter," professor McGonagall _beamed_ at him, "your daughter is an exceptional young witch and Hogwarts is offering her the opportunity to skip her sixth year."

Years worth of learning how to carefully school her features went down the drain as Lily heard that. Her eyes widened comically and her mouth dropped open while she stared at the Headmistress in disbelief. Was this really happening?

"Professor," Ginny gave a little laugh of incredulity, "are you serious?"

"Most definitely, Mrs. Potter." McGonagall sat forward and laced her fingers together atop the table. "Your daughter in all her years at Hogwarts has never gotten a wrong answer in a test, her homework is always graded top marks and her wand work is exquisite. Ms. Potter gets easily bored in class and the professors fear sixth year might be not enough of a challenge."

"Not a single answer wrong? How is this possible, everyone makes mistakes," Harry shook his head lightly, his eyes as wide as his wife and daughter's.

"I just," Lily said lowly, her eyes affixed on the smooth lines of the wooden table, "when I read something I never forget. It's easy to answer a question about something you remember perfectly."

"Eidetic memory, Ms. Potter," the Headmistress provided, "but that wouldn't explain how you excel at wand and magic theory based classes. Transfiguration, for example. You are perhaps one of the best witches this castle has ever seen."

Lily was slowly getting control of herself and with that came the realisation that this was really happening. Pride settled on her chest like a warm blanket as she blinked at the Headmistress.

"Thank you for this opportunity, professor," she finally remembered her manners.

"I'll give you a week to decide if you'll accept our offer, Ms. Potter," professor McGonagall said kindly, "a lot will change for you if you do choose so. You'll have none of your friends in your classes and a lot of work cut out for you this summer. There are some things that one usually masters in sixth year and you'll have less than a month to do what normal students do in a whole school year."

"Wordless spells," Lily said. Professor McGonagall nodded and Lily let her eyes meet the old man in the portrait briefly before focusing again on the current Headmistress. "I don't need a week, professor. I'll gladly accept this challenge."

"What about your friends?" Her dad asked her. His eyes still didn't quite meet hers but his head was at least turned in her direction.

"I have friends in seventh year too, dad," Lily said calmly, "and a month is plenty of time to learn everything I need to know."

"Lily, honey, this is huge," her mum had tears of joy in her eyes as she turned to look at her, "are sure?"

"I'm completely sure." Lily smiled at her mum before turning it to the Headmistress. "I won't disappoint you, Headmistress."

"I don't expect you to, Ms. Potter." McGonagall looked at her fondly. "The Ministry will grant you special permission for the duration of the summer to practice the spells you need to inside the security of your home. I trust you will use this opportunity wisely." Her blue eyes bored severely onto Lily's.

"Of course," she replied easily.

"Very well, then," McGonagall raised from her seat and the three Potters raised with her, "you have a lot of work ahead of you, Ms. Potter. I look forward to seeing you September first."

After short pleasantries were exchanged the Potters left and Minerva McGonagall seated herself back on the tall plush chair. She turned it around to look at her old friend.

"What did you think of her, Albus?"

Severus Snape, who had previously been pretending to be completely uninterested in the exchange, lifted his nose in the air. A light sneer gracing his features.

"The girl is as far removed from Potter as possible. Intelligent and well mannered. Are you sure she wasn't adopted?" He drawled.

Dumbledore chuckled benignly. "Now, now, Severus. Couldn't you see how much she looked like Ms. Weasley?" The old man looked sideways at the other portrait. "Not to mention the uncanny resemblance to her namesake."

The sneer was on full force now. For those who knew him, however, the gleam of interest in his eyes was unmistakable.

"She is in Slytherin," he changed the course of the conversation.

"Yes," McGonagall replied, "quite a surprise, that was."

"And how is she fairing?" Dumbledore asked her.

"Wonderfully I would say," professor McGonagall helped herself to some biscuits, "it seems she has a lot of friends in the house."

"She certainly is an interesting young lady," Dumbledore said speculatively, "I hope to see more of her soon."

.

.

.

The next day her parents organised a Potter Brunch to celebrate the news. Mostly everyone in the family came to congratulate Lily and she even got some gifts. Uncle Neville was there with his family too, as was aunt Luna. Even Lola and her family were there.

The usual quidditch game that ensued was a blast and Lily felt adrenaline rush through her bloodstream as she almost caught the snitch again. Her dad caught it in the end, but they still won because her mum seemed to be particularly eager and ruthless in her game that afternoon.

After the game, they all parted into their usual groups and Lily headed to the kitchen to get some reprieve from all the excitement going on. She texted Scorpius while she got herself a glass of pumpkin juice and couldn't help but laugh at his grumpiness.

Yesterday when she told him and the others about her skipping a year they were all ecstatic that they would now share the same classes and Scorpius was particularly vocal when saying they needed to celebrate. One experimental conversation with her parents, though, showed that Lily wasn't quite off the hook just yet.

When Scorpius realised that he wouldn't be seeing her for quite some time, he did what he did best. Which was to sulk.

 _Don't sulk, darling. September 1st isn't that far off_

 **Scorpius Malfoy:**

 _ **I don't sulk**_

 _Whatever you say, Malfoy_

 _ **Scorpius Malfoy:**_

 _ **I hate you, Potter**_

Lily snorted into her glass and didn't reply. Everyday she discovered something new about him. It was cute at first to realise that the great Scorpius Malfoy who always acted so far beyond his age sometimes could be such a brat but Lily found that she didn't always have the patience for it. She was in the middle of washing her dirty glass when Lysander walked in.

"Hey, Lils," he greeted her with an easy smile.

Lily had felt a bit awkward when she first saw him in her home, but she had been slowly getting over it. His easygoingness certainly helped things along. She felt a rush of affection towards her first boyfriend and when she answered him, her voice held none of the uncertainties she'd been feeling previously.

"Ly," she smiled at him. "Having fun?"

"Much more than you, apparently." He cocked his head to the side in question and leaned his hip on the counter besides her. "You do know this is a day when you're supposed to be celebrating, right?"

Lily snorted and avoided his eyes. "Is it, really? I must have missed the memo," she murmured.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" He lowered his voice and Lily felt her eyes jump to his in response to the sudden tone.

It was the same one he usually used when they were having sex but she felt none of the rush of molten pleasure she used to feel when they were together. It wasn't that he suddenly became unattractive. His golden hair curled sweetly around his head and his blue eyes were cute as always but she suddenly found herself comparing him with another blond. Lysander was too buff and not tall enough and his jaw too square, nothing at all like Scorpius.

Lily frowned at her own trail of thought. She really shouldn't be thinking about him right now.

"Lily?" The worried tone his voice took was what snapped her out of it.

"Sorry, Lysander," she gave him her best unaffected smile, "I'm just not in the mood to celebrate, today." She hooked her arms around one of his and pulled him back to the garden. "Maybe you should get me another burger to see if it'll change anything."

"You're a bottomless pit," he laughed and left her to get her request.

The rest of the day passed without any further incidents. She decided to turn her phone off and put it away in her room after the third time she felt it vibrate only to see that it had been her imagination. Her relatives left late afternoon with even more congratulations thrown her way and by the time the sun had completely set, Lily was already in her room.

She stripped off her clothes lazily and turned on her phone when she was in only her underwear. She contemplated getting something for the cramps she felt coming—suddenly her bad mood and compulsive need for greasy food made much more sense—but decided against it when her phone blinked to life. There were some texts from Lola asking if she had enjoyed the day and that she missed her already. Lily knew she had a busy summer ahead of her with lots of catching up to do so she let the blonde know she would probably be stuck home until it was time to get back to Hogwarts.

She saw that Scorpius had texted her. He offered to tutor her through FaceTime in whatever subject she needed help with. It was sweet. Not really an apology for his grumpiness but sweet all the same. She replied him and had barely left the screen before her phone started ringing the tune for a FaceTime call. It was him.

She quickly grabbed a pillow and used it to cover herself before answering.

"Hi," she gave him a small grin when she saw he was in his bed just like her. He hadn't bothered covering his naked torso, though.

"Hello, love," he smirked at her but it didn't hold its usual vigour. He didn't waste any time beating around the bush. "You're not mad at me, right? I did apologise."

Lily shook her head but couldn't help the tiny smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"That had to be the worst apology in the history of apologies," she said flatly.

Scorpius snorted. "I thought it was brilliant." He gave her his usual smirk.

"I don't know why I put up with you, honestly," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Mind-blowing sex, love, that's why," he replied without even a pause.

Lily couldn't help the genuine laugh that escaped her. She adjusted the pillow in front of her before replying.

"You know, we're going to be pretty lacking in that department soon."

"Don't remind me." He ran a hand through his already tousled hair and sighed deeply. "We should've had a goodbye fuck, you know. Now we have to wait three weeks on top of the seven going on eight days that we already spent without fucking." He gave her a blank look.

"Is sex all you think about?" She asked amusedly. It was clear he was already frustrated and while Lily could admit it wasn't exactly a walk in the park for her, she didn't expect him to be so transparent about it.

"Pretty much," he shrugged nonchalantly and she threw her head back to laugh. The motion made the pillow she had been holding slip slightly and reveal more skin than she'd anticipated. "Now this is interesting," he purred. "Are you naked beneath that pillow, Potter?"

His voice took that rough quality that whispered of steamy shared experiences and exciting things to come and Lily's face flushed accordingly. Even with the annoying pressure of period cramps on her lower back, Lily felt pleasure coil lazily low in her belly in response to his voice.

"Don't start something you can't finish, Malfoy," she replied in her steadiest voice.

"Oh, I would finish, Potter," he all but growled at her, "and so would you."

The constant cry from her uterus was the only thing that kept her from moaning out loud. She really wasn't in the mood for anything sexual right now but she knew that it would only take him three seconds flat to change that. Her cramps were a saving grace because they kept her grounded enough to reply levelly.

"If I wanted to make myself come, I would've already." Lily saw the darkening of his eyes even through the screen. She kept her voice low out of necessity—she really didn't need anyone overhearing her from the hallway—but still enjoyed the effect she had on him. "The next time I come, Malfoy, you'll be deep inside me."

"Tease," he groaned low on his throat, his brows furrowing slightly even as his eyes gleamed in delight.

"You know it." She winked at him. "I'm going to take a bath now. Talk to you soon?"

Scorpius snorted. "If I'm not dead with the most severe case of blue balls then yeah, sure."

Lily rolled her eyes but still laughed softly.

"All right, good night, drama queen."

"G'Night, tease."

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 _Hey, everybody! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, it was really hard to write for some reason, I still don't know if it came out the way I wanted it to. What do you guys think about this news about Lily?_

 _Thank you, my darlings, for all the lovely reviews and also for the follows and favourites. You guys are amazing, keep sending them my way because they're really what inspire me the most._

 _See you soon,_

 _~JulietteDeschemps_


	11. Chapter XI

**That Summer Chapter XI**

Ginny Weasley was a happy woman all things considered.

She had three wonderful children that, all right, were kind of a handful at times but still all she could have asked for. She had a beautiful house, a loving husband and a fulfilling job. She had the life she had always wanted as a child, the life she had fought for with everything she had during the war.

Her work schedule was a bit hectic so she particularly liked moments like this when she could put her feet up and just enjoy some quietness next to the love of her life. Today, however, was different.

She had been reading the same paragraph of some trashy romance novel for the past five minutes because said man kept interrupting her with annoyed sighs and angrily turned pages of the Night Prophet.

"Harry," she started in the most patient voice she could muster, which wasn't saying much at all, "I swear to Merlin, you're this close to getting kicked out of your own living room."

Ginny looked at him over her book and snorted when she saw him roll his eyes in a gesture that was so Lily that she couldn't keep the amusement out of her face. Harry looked at her and opened his mouth to say something but no words came out, just an irritated humph after he floundered for a while.

"I'm just so angry," he said at last.

She marked her book and slowly put it down to look at him better.

"Harry, she lied to go to a party, it's not the end of the world," Ginny said carefully. She expected a reaction from him and wasn't disappointed.

"Not the end of the world?" He exclaimed and threw his arms in the air. "Ginny, she lied to my face! We're losing her to that damned house and you're just sitting there like nothing's wrong."

Ginny furrowed her eyebrows at that.

"You think I don't care?" She narrowed her eyes at him and watched as he ran a hand through his hair and pushed his glasses up to squeeze the bridge of his nose.

"That's not what I said, Gin," Harry said more calmly but it was no use. She was already on a roll.

"I care that she felt she had to lie to us. I care that she clearly doesn't feel comfortable in this house and doesn't feel welcomed in her own family, Harry!" Ginny felt her eyes burn as her voice cracked.

"Gin..." Harry raised from his position on the settee and went to sit next to her on the sofa. She accepted his arms around her and brought her own hand to play with the buttons of his shirt for a moment before she exhaled slowly through her nose and pushed him slightly away so she could look at him.

"We're losing her, Harry." Her face was so close to his that she could see his eyes darken immediately. "We're losing her and not because of the house she was sorted into but because of how we're making her feel."

"I don't know what to do," Harry confessed in a low voice, his face scrunched up in an expression that was just so lost, Ginny felt affection tugging at her chest.

"We have to make more of an effort. I don't want to be the type of mother my mum was. I want her to be able to confide in me and I want to know about her life." Ginny sighed. "I don't want to lose my baby girl."

Harry's hold tightened around her before he rested against the sofa more comfortably and forced his muscles to relax. He buried his nose on her hair and Ginny felt him inhale deeply.

"I don't want to lose her either," he sighed, "but she's still grounded."

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Lily went straight to her room after breakfast that morning. She spent the past week and a half reading all of Albus' sixth year books. It was hard work—harder than expected, that's for sure— but she suffered through it, practicing a charm or a transfiguration spell when her eyes started to cross from so much reading. Yesterday she finally managed to master the Crinus Muto spell, her first attempt at Human Transfiguration. Today, she wanted to try it wordlessly one more time before moving on to the Avis charm.

She had barely time to breathe, rushing through all the text work to master the spells she needed to wordlessly. The only thing that kept her from going headfirst into a breakdown was that she was into the schedule she had set up for herself. Loath as she was to admit it, she couldn't have done it without Scorpius. Be it with a helpful tip about some subject, answers when she didn't understand something or even a crude joke that made her laugh, he was always there for her for whatever she needed.

Lily smiled to herself, thinking about how he offered to quiz her about Defence Against the Dark Arts and managed to turn it around as an excuse to get her naked. She didn't, of course, because she ended up getting all of the answers correct but he ended up in only his boxers and one sock. She moved to the floor length mirror in front of her bed and pointed her wand at her hair.

She had just transfigured her usual long dark red waves into a pastel pink bob when Albus burst into her room.

"Never heard of knocking?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

He didn't show any indications of being sorry or surprised at her new look, only shot her a hurried, "Get ready, we're going to Diagon Alley," and left, leaving her door open.

"Idiot," Lily mumbled before reversing the spell. She closed her door and locked it this time before moving to her closet to choose her attire.

They were supposed to go to Diagon Alley tomorrow like they always did—the last Sunday before leaving to Hogwarts—but she figured if Albus, who was never hurried in his life, even when he was late, burst into her room like that, something had changed.

Lily quickly changed into a dark grey slip dress and some ballerina flats. She remembered seeing in the back of her dad's Prophet that morning that the forecast for the day was of rain so she quickly grabbed a dark green bomber jacket and her black umbrella. She brushed her teeth in lightning speed before moving her hair on top of her head in a messy bun while grabbing her sunglasses and purse and left.

Her parents and Albus were waiting for her by the fireplace. Her brother had an annoyed look on his face.

"C'mon, lazy ass, Rose is already there," he moved his hands in a hurry up motion before turning around and grabbing a pinch of floo powder. "Leaky Cauldron." And then he was gone.

"I thought we were going tomorrow," Lily said to her mum as her dad followed through the fireplace.

Ginny rushed her forward. "Some important meeting at the Auror Department, it seems. Your father and Ron have to go in tomorrow instead of today." She held the little container out for Lily to take some of the powder, "Quick now, dear, everybody is already there."

Lily didn't waste any time and before she knew it she was inside the almost empty Leaky Cauldron. She spotted Old Tom quickly and sent him an honest smile and a wave which he responded to with a wink. Her mum came through the floo connection behind her and hooked her arm with hers to guide her to where her dad and Albus were already tapping the correct brick with their wand.

On the other side, aunt Hermione quickly accosted them and said in a rush, "Good, everyone's here. Looks like we managed to get here early enough to escape the rush hour. Let's divide and conquer, shall we?"

And then everyone was moving. The girls went with aunt Hermione, aunt Fleur and her mum to buy their robes and new scrolls and quills while the boys went to get their books and potion supplies. The day was getting progressively hotter and the streets getting fuller by the point that they could barely walk without bumping shoulders with someone.

Lily shed her coat and asked her mum to shrink it so she could put it in her purse just like her umbrella was. Rose had been babbling nonstop about how great professor Wickham was and it was only contributing to her increasing bad mood. Professor Doris Wickham taught Arithmancy and while Lily liked the class well enough, she thought that the middle aged woman complicated things that were usually not difficult at all just to make the class seem harder. She usually studied only by the book and almost never needed to pay attention to class.

Lily exchanged a long-suffering look with Dominique as they entered the restaurant they usually had lunch in after shopping for their supplies. It seemed the platinum blonde was as done with their bushy haired cousin as she was.

"Wow, Rosie, that's really interesting," she said with exaggerated cheeriness, "how about we see now how long you can keep your mouth shut now?" Dominique raised her eyebrows at Rose as Lily watched it all with an amused look on her face.

"You don't always have to be so rude, Dominique," Rose crossed her arms and raised her nose in the air.

Lily saw that aunt Hermione was about to interrupt their altercation and decided to intervene. She knew by experience that her aunt would defend her daughter but Dominique wouldn't just let it go so aunt Fleur would butt in and it would all turn into an unnecessarily big thing.

"Dom, could you order me a salad, please?" She shot her cousin her most charming smile. "I'm going to check the autumn collection at Royston."

"I'm not your servant, cousin," Dominique replied, thoroughly distracted and argument with Rose forgotten.

"Unfortunately, no, you're not. But still. Be a doll, would you?" She winked at her cousin and didn't give her time to reply before turning around and leaving.

She mentally catalogued where they chose to seat—the largest table by the window—said her excuses to her mum and left hurriedly. Royston was an upmarket shop across the street from the restaurant that sold only what was newest in fashion. Lily loved to go there from time to time to get something for herself or even just to window shop.

It was a relatively new shop and all the salespersons knew Lily by name. Some of them waved at her through the window and she waved back, debating wether she should go inside or not. The cooling charms would surely be a nice reprieve from all the heat and she figured she had enough money to buy something from the new collection. Just as her consumeristic side won out, a flash blond to her left caught her attention.

Scorpius Malfoy was just walking out of Gringott's when he noticed her. His usual smirk immediately appeared as he made his way towards her, dodging passersby fluidly as if he hardly put any effort into the action. All his attention was focused on her. Lily grinned at him before casually looking at her family. She caught her mum's eye and saw the gesture she made to hurry up and quickly held up a hand to tell her to wait.

Just as Scorpius got close enough and opened his mouth to greet her, Lily spoke, "Behave, my whole family is watching."

"Nice to see you too, Potter," his smirk widened as he took a step forward, his eyes roving over her hungrily, "Nice to see you, indeed."

"I mean it, Malfoy," she narrowed her eyes at him and took a tiny step backwards.

Scorpius raised his hands, "Chill out, I'm keeping my hands to myself," he put them into the pockets of his dark washed jeans as if to prove his point, "for now."

Lily raised her eyebrow at him and scoffed, "For now?"

"Yes, you see I do need to give you a congratulatory… hug," his voice took that rough undertone that sent shivers down her spine even in the stifling heat.

"A hug, sure," she shook her head at him, her grin growing bigger by the second.

"I can't wait for Septem—" Scorpius was saying but was interrupted when a drop from the sky hit him right on the tip of his nose. What was once bright blue skies now took a turn for the grey and drizzle was quickly turning into heavy rain.

"Shit," Lily cursed. "Enlarge this for me, please?" She handed him her umbrella. He complied while she took her jacket out and offered it to him as well. Scorpius stepped closer to her and held the umbrella above them as Lily put on her coat. "Thanks."

She took the stick from him, casually brushing their fingers in the process. If their hands stayed longer than necessary in contact, no one would be able to tell.

"You're welcome," he mumbled, dark grey-blue eyes fixed on hers.

"I have to go…" she said to him, her voice matching his even as she took a step towards the restaurant.

"Yeah, me too," he cleared his throat, "Lunch with the parents."

"Me too," Lily said and felt her cheeks burn at how stupid she sounded. She shook her head slightly, "I guess I'll see you at school?"

"Yeah," he smirked at her again, "See you at school." And then he held his wand up, the point towards the sky and left the shelter of her umbrella. It looked like he created a barrier of some kind because the rain fell around him without a single drop ever touching him.

Lily forced her blush down and made herself turn immediately towards the restaurant without looking back at him. She walked to their table with her shoulders back and chin high and placed her wet umbrella besides the chair reserved for her between aunt Fleur and Dom on the round table by the window.

"Find anything interesting?" aunt Fleur asked in her barely there accent with an excited smile. She loved fashion just as much as Lily did and always had something new for her favourite niece. Louis left to open his boutique in France the year he graduated Hogwarts so Lily was now the only person in the family that shared her passion.

"The collection is amazing, I was pretty tempted to go inside," Lily answered. Their food arrived just then and any conversation was cut off in favour of their empty stomachs.

But it wasn't long before her mum turned her attention to her.

"Was that boy with you Malfoy's kid?" It was as if the whole table suddenly focused on them. In her paranoia is seemed like even the rest of the customers turned quiet.

"Yep," Lily forced herself to continue eating calmly even as her heart raced. She exchanged a casual look with Dominique before quickly smiling to her mum and focusing her attention on her salad.

It looked like her mum wasn't done yet, but Rose and her loud mouth was the one who saved her this time. The bushy haired redhead stuck her nose in the air and huffed.

"Scorpius Malfoy is absolutely foul," her nose scrunched up as if she had smelled something rotten, "He's a womaniser and a player, has no respect for rules whatsoever and is all in all an arrogant arse."

Lily raised an eyebrow at her but it was Dominique who replied, "You're only saying that because you're outraged that he still beats you in almost every class," she scoffed.

Lily watched in gleeful amusement as Rose's face turned red.

"Shut your mouth, Dominique," she said through gritted teeth but it was no use. Lily knew that Dom had been itching for an argument with their cousin since they left Madam Malkin's with their new robes. And when Dominique Weasley decided a fight was long due, she didn't pull any punches.

"See, and now you're getting angry because I'm telling the truth," she smiled sardonically, "You're jealous because he has an active sex life and a lot of friends and still manages to beat you when you are ridiculously obsessed with your studies."

"That's not true!" Lily watched in fascination as Rose's face turned progressively darker, getting closer and closer to uncle Ron's trademark purplish outraged look.

"You should really try and let lose sometimes, cousin, it'll be good for you." Dominique pretended to examine her nails. "You should find yourself a new beau."

"She absolutely should not!" Uncle Ron exclaimed at the same time as uncle Bill said a warning but still amused, "Dominique." But it was Albus who made himself heard throughout the exchange.

"And you should stop attacking your family and defending the enemy," Lily scoffed at that and received an annoyed look from him in response before he focused on Dominique again. "Maybe the reason you're saying this stuff is because you're just like him. Tell me Dominique, just how many guys have you been with? I wouldn't be surprised at all if Malfoy was one of the many."

Oh, Albus, she thought, you really shouldn't have said that.

"Tell me, Albus," she copied him in a drawl, "are you completely sure you want to go down that road?" Lily let just enough danger enter her tone to let him know she wasn't kidding. His green eyes met hers and widened at what he saw. Lily knew very well that Albus wasn't exactly a saint and most of his irritation towards Scorpius came from the fact that the two usually competed for female attention and Malfoy, most of the times, won. Still, there were plenty of cringe-worthy stories she could bring up and he knew that very well.

"Albus Severus Potter!" Her mum thundered in an anger filled whisper, "You should never, ever say something to a girl like that! As if how many boyfriends she's had is any of your business! Apologise right now."

Albus just continued glaring at Dominique and Lily with an annoyed look on his face. After a few tense seconds he murmured a completely unapologetic, "Sorry," and went back to his food. Ginny seemed satisfied for the moment but her eyebrows were still furrowed.

"You should apologise to Rose as well, Dominique," Hermione said with both her eyebrows raised at her niece.

Lily almost cringed at the look that crossed her cousin's face at that moment. Dominique practically sneered at her pumpkin juice before turning to Rose with a false smile on her face and saying, "Sorry for speaking the truth, Rosie." Lily would have laughed if the vibe around the table wasn't so heavy.

"Dominique—" Hermione began but aunt Fleur quickly interrupted her.

"Thank you, Hermione, I will take care of my daughter's behaviour now," Her voice left no room for argument. The french woman just turned a look that clearly said, "Just shut up now," to her daughter and nothing else was said.

All throughout the altercation, Lily just kept her face carefully schooled into a bored and mildly amused look. Her heart was still racing a bit because anytime the conversation could turn towards her and that was something she really didn't need happening. After a few beats where everyone just went on eating their foods quietly, Lily felt it was in her best interest to lift the mood and direct their attention elsewhere.

"So," she said casually, "uncle Bill, how has things been going at work? Any exciting stories to share?" Lily raised her eyebrows expectantly at him. Only when he promptly began an elaborate tale of a faux break in at Gringott's did she let herself relax. The meaningful look Dominique shot her was impossible to ignore.

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Lily spent the rest of the day practicing her wand work. It was gruelling but she enjoyed it so she didn't mind much. It was exhilarating to be excelling at something that many others found difficult. The pride she felt when professor McGonagall said she was one of the best witches she had ever seen was almost too much.

So she suffered through and even got herself ahead of schedule.

She was almost done practicing all the potions that were required of her, her desk now a working table complete with a cauldron that was always filled with some concoction or another. Now, her main concern was Herbology. She didn't have access to either the Venomous Tentacula nor to any Snargaluff pods so she could only study the theory.

Professor McGonagall had sent her a letter explaining that she would have to take a quick practical test on the subject when she got back but not to worry that professor Longbottom would be reasonable when evaluating her. She still worried.

So when Scorpius called that night she didn't waste any time in asking him to help quiz her on the subject.

"You know everything you need to know, Potter, chill out," he said after she'd been stressing out for a while. "Now let's move on to more important things, shall we?"

"More important?" Lily's eyes widened as her mind came up with different scenarios of how much saying yes to skipping a year was coming back to bite her in the ass.

"Hmm, yes," Scorpius said with a serious face before his eyes darkened and his voice lowered, "Like what colour is the knicker you're wearing right now."

Lily blanked out for a second before giving a very unladylike snort. The contrast from all the worrying she'd been doing was so big that she couldn't help but laugh.

"Be serious."

"I'm dead serious, love." Scorpius grinned at her. "But perhaps that's the wrong question and a more suitable one would be if you're wearing knickers at all."

His voice was still low and the look in his eyes intense and Lily was suddenly reminded of how stressed and wound up all the studying was making her. She felt her cheeks flush as heat settled in her belly. She missed sex.

"Wouldn't you like to know," she smirked at him, deciding to play along for now.

"Don't start something that you won't finish, Potter," he warned her, using the same words she'd used on him before.

She paused for a second and seriously considered this. She really wasn't a fan of phone sex. Not that she'd done it before but the whole concept just wasn't something that appealed to her, even if they were FaceTimeing. But still, he'd stoked a fire inside her that she hadn't been aware was there until he plucked the right cords with his voice and words and she _needed_ release. A wicked smile formed on her face as she thought that yes, she would come tonight, but it didn't have to be with him on the other end of the line.

"Oh, I will finish, Malfoy," she said in her most sultry tone of voice. She waited for his reaction to it before adding a quick, "Talk to you later," and hanging up on him.

Who cared if she had said that the next time she came would be with him inside her. She needed to let go of all this pent up tension inside of her and she needed it now.

So she wasted no time in kicking her shorts off and sliding her hand inside her knickers. She reclined on the bed and took only a second to be amused by the buzzing of her phone before getting right down to business.

It was ridiculous how quickly she got worked up. Her fingers glided effortlessly between her slit before coming up to rub tiny circles against her clit. An image of Scorpius doing exactly that to her that first time in his place suddenly came to her and she couldn't help but moan as more of her desire seeped out of her.

Her fingers weren't thick enough to satisfy her now that she had him to compare it to so she focused on circling the small bundle of nerves almost feverishly. Hot pleasure bloomed from her core and she knew she was close. Her toes curled, her back curved and she was _almost_ there. The image of him earlier that day on Diagon Alley was what tipped her over the edge.

She felt her walls contracting on nothing as she gasped for breath, sweat beading on her skin. It hadn't been as mind-blowing as it usually was with him but it was still amazing and she took a moment to bask in the afterglow before getting up and heading to the shower.

Lily was still worried about her academics but she knew one thing. She just couldn't wait for September 1st.

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 _Hey, guys! I feel like I should be grovelling at your feet, begging for forgiveness. I should have reasonable explanation as to why this took so long, but I have none other than RL is_ hard _. I have some good news, I'll be moving to Melbourne in August and am really, really excited for it but for a while depression and arranging everything for the move took up most of my writing time._

 _Now I'm back! I made myself a nice cup of tea, sat my ass down and wrote. Expect at least 4k words on Saturday because *drumrolls* WE HAVE REACHED 100 REVIEWS! I had no idea this fic would get this much love and all I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you guys and promise to give you the reunion you guys want this weekend. Oops, spoilers._

 _Thank you all for reviewing, favouriting and following this fic, you guys are my muse and always manage to get me back from whatever writer's block with your kind words. I want to thank the anons especially because I can't reply to your comments: you guys_ rock _! Please create an account so I can reply!_

 _All right, ridiculously long A/N is over, see you Saturday,_

 _~JulietteDeschemps_


	12. Chapter XII

**That Summer Chapter XII**

By the time they apparated into King's Cross the whistle signalling the train's departure was already sounding shrilly. Lily ran through the crowd with Albus hot on her heels, dodging crying mothers left and right.

She was going to _kill_ Albus.

"Bye, mum! Bye dad!" She yelled over her shoulder, not bothering to slow down.

Lily heard Albus doing the same from behind her and her parents' reply, but it barely registered in her mind. She had just one goal and it was to get to the train before it left. The last whistle blew and the engines started to work, the old steel grinding shrilly.

All right. Time to up her game.

Lily drew her wand and performed a silent shrinking spell on her luggage, followed by a quick _leviosa_ to direct it towards the pocket of her black hoodie. She quickly jumped the gap just as the red engine began to crawl forward, but her mission wasn't over.

"Out of the way! Out of the way!" Albus was still dodging people, his larger frame slowed down by his trunk and owl cage.

Hermes, his owl, had already been set free to make the trip on his own so Lily didn't have to worry about him before she levitated his load. She threw it up in the air so she could let go of the _wingardium leviosa_ and aimed the same shrinking spell she had used on her trunk before trapping it into the levitating spell again.

The train was gaining up speed just as Albus reached it and jumped in with a war cry. Lily kept her concentration on his stuff, though, using her magic to bring it towards them.

The crowd hooted and clapped to their success as Lily and Albus waved at their parents and James.

"Write me every week!" Their mum pleaded as she and the rest of their family followed the train.

"Nice moves, Flower!" Uncle George hooted as he waved next to Aunt Angelina. She tried to reply but the train had already left the platform.

Lily turned to her brother, panting from her sprint, and promptly burst out laughing. Albus joined her in the slightly hysterical outburst.

"I'm going to kill you," she panted in between giggles, "As soon as I catch my breath."

Albus slung an arm around her and planted a wet kiss on her cheek.

"Thanks for the help, Lils."

"Eugh," she wiped at the spot his lips left, "You better run, Potter."

A few last giggles escaped her before she finally caught her breath. She really needed to work on her cardio. She usually kept a workout routine for Quidditch but the last month or so had been exclusively devoted to reading and working on her sixth-year workload.

Doing a year's worth of schoolwork in only half her summer break was hard, even for her.

Lily trudged her way through the hallway, looking for a compartment to sit down while making a mental note to get back to her routine. She crossed to the last car where the Slytherin's usually stayed and almost faltered on her next step when she saw someone exiting a compartment up ahead.

The first thing she noticed was his hair. The late morning light shined through the soot smudged windows and reflected on his blond tresses as he noticed her. She could see the moment it happened. His naturally composed posture stiffened minutely as he turned his head to her end of the hall. She was too far away to see his face clearly but the hint of a smirk could still be seen.

He met her halfway.

"Hey."

"Potter." They eyed each other for a while, neither saying anything for a bit. His smirk widened. "I guess this is the time for that hug."

"Here in the middle of the hallway where everyone can see us?" She teased as a couple of girls she recognised from Hufflepuff passed them and giggled behind their hands. "Naughty."

The distance between them kept getting smaller.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with two... friends hugging."

"Friends, you say?" She couldn't help the big doofus smile on her face.

"Yes," he huffed a laugh, "friends." His arms finally circled her in his warmth and Lily had to fight back a small sigh. "It's amazing what you did. Honestly, you're a genius."

She laughed embarrassedly and ducked her head as they parted. She'd never been very good with compliments.

"Thanks..." she laughed again and waved her hand to brush it off, "but I'm no genius. I just have eidetic memory, apparently."

"Still pretty fucking impressive." His lips curled into a soft smirk so different from the one that had become his trademark. This smirk held more depth to it, one corner of his mouth curling higher and making warmth spread in her chest. "Come on, we saved a seat for you."

He guided her to the compartment he had previously vacated and opened the door for her. Felix was lying with his head on Alicia's lap while she ran her hands through his hair lazily and gazed at the scenery to her left.

The moment he noticed her, Felix jumped to his feet. "There's our little genius." He grabbed her around the waist and twirled her around. "Good to see you, love."

Lily didn't even try to smother her giggles. "Hey, Felix."

She moved to kiss Alicia on the cheek when he set her down.

"Sweet Salazar, I'm so happy we're gonna share the dorms now," was Alicia's greeting, "I swear I wouldn't be able to put up with those harpies by myself for another year. I'm serious!" She kept going when Lily laughed, "You saved me from Azkaban because I was well on my way to murder."

"Oh, please," Lily scoffed, "we both know if you went down the path of homicide, you wouldn't get caught." She settled herself across from Alicia as she laughed and handed her trunk for Scorpius to enlarge and put in the overhead compartment. "Besides, they can't be _that_ bad."

"They're not," Felix kept Alicia from going on another rant, "but they're not Ali's biggest fans, you know, what with her charming personality."

"You mean bitchy," Scorpius supplied as he stretched himself besides Lily.

"Fuck you, Malfoy," Alicia glared at him but Lily could see there was no heat behind it.

"Sorry, love. I'm quite open to many things but incest is not one of them."

A small laugh escaped Alicia's facade and she turned a bright smile towards Lily.

"I'm so glad you're with us again," her words made the warmth from before come back, "This past month has been sobloody boring without you."

" _Yes,_ " Felix agreed emphatically and turned his head to shoot her one of his crinkled eyed smiles, "and let's not even get into how much Scor's been driving us bonkers with his whinging about not getting any."

"Yes," Scorpius growled, "let's not."

"Oh, poor baby," Lily teased, secretly glad that Felix had inadvertently confirmed that Scorpius hadn't been with anyone else since they'd first hooked up.

"Actually, I do _not_ whinge," Scorpius seemed to think some defensiveness was in order.

"You're right," Alicia said with a teasing curve to her full lips, "you don't whinge. You brood."

The compartment was filled with the sound of their laughter and even though Scorpius scoffed, Lily could see a tiny smirk on his face. The good humour was short-lived, though, because in the next moment the door to the compartment banged open and a curvy blonde unceremoniously plopped herself onto Scorpius' lap. Lily's eyebrows shot up to her hairline as she recognised Charlotte Wood, a seventh year Hufflepuff.

Lottie was the type of girl who everybody couldn't help but like. With her dirty blonde hair, warm umber eyes and cool, laid-back attitude, she was like a magnet to boys like Scorpius who quite enjoyed the no strings deal they got from her.

She was well known and well liked around the partying circle especially because she was usually the one with the best booze and drugs. Lily'd known her through Lorcan, who was quite close to the blonde, and she actually liked her just fine.

She didn't know how to feel about her on top of Scorpius, though.

"Hey, stud," she braced herself on the seat behind him and leaned closer while her voice dropped low, "missed you this summer. Wanna roll?"

Scorpius brought his hands to her waist and picked her up to gently set her on her feet. Lily's stomach did something weird—almost as if a snake had coiled around it—when she saw how careful he was with the girl She promptly ignored the feeling. The look of confusion on Lottie's face would have been funny if Lily had actually been successful in calming her rebellious stomach.

"Lottie, love," Scorpius flashed her a disarming smile while the tension in the compartment rose, "I'm sorry to say that I'm quite exclusive as of this summer."

Wood shrugged noncommittally and flashed him a suggestive smile.

"No worries," she moved to the door, mouth still curved sensuously and didn't even acknowledge anyone else in the compartment, "we both know that won't last long. When it's over… come and find me."

The she was gone and the door was closed behind her.

The silence was thick between the four of them. Even Felix wasn't cracking a joke. They were all just staring at Lily, probably waiting for a blowup from her. It suddenly came to her that this was a turning point. Whatever her reaction to this was, it would shape up their interactions in the future. A lot of things passed through her mind during the awkward seconds that ensued.

She could make a big deal about this and she was almost sure Scorpius would apologise, even though he wasn't in the wrong. Of course, there was also the possibility that he wouldn't apologise, then she was pretty sure the easiness she was feeling with the trio would be gone. A fight would _surely_ issue, sides would be taken and although Felix and Alicia would tear him a new one, they would still take his side.

The thing is, it doesn't matter that it all started with Scorpius and her. Sex she could get anywhere, but _this_... This was something she'd never had before.

She liked how easy it was to joke with Felix, how she got to know Alicia better and most of all, she couldn't imagine going back to being strangers with Scorpius. There was also the fact that the snake around her stomach was a feeling she didn't want back ever again and if she could push it away, even if it took pushing any possessiveness she may feel about Scorpius away, she would do it.

Lily angled her body towards Scorpius, her words directed to everyone in the compartment but her focus on him. "Well, that was awkward."

The chuckle that left her was genuine as she found the humour in the situation. The tension coating the air seemed to dissipate at that and she was glad. A weight had been lifted from her shoulders even as a tiny voice in the back of her head whispered that the decision she made wasn't the right one.

"Wood has always been on the loose side," Alicia flipped her glossy hair over her shoulders, "it's really no surprise."

"You only say that because she hooked up with your ex," Felix laughed as she smacked him on the head with the Witch's Weekly that had been between her and the wall.

"Would it hurt to wait a week before pouncing on her?" Ali exclaimed apparently upset, but a small grin showed she was actually finding the situation funny.

"I say the girl's got some balls," Lily offered.

"Nope," Felix shot her a devious smirk, "I checked."

Laughter bubbled from Lily's throat without her consent. When Alicia opened her magazine and started to read out loud a 'What kind of Potion Are You?' test and they answered the questions together, Lily felt truly happy. So what if she had to push the tiniest bit of anxiety away? She had _real_ friends. People who she could call best friends, if she dared. She was _happy_.

She was giggling at one of the ridiculous questions—If you could define yourself with one ingredient, would you be—when her eyes drifted to her left and met mercurial grey ones. Her breath hitched at the intensity she found there. How long had he been watching her?

She could feel his calculating gaze on her even as she turned back to Alicia. When the Zabini moved on to another stupid test, she chanced a discreet glance his way and met his gaze again. He didn't look away and didn't give any indication of being embarrassed to be caught staring. She let a small grin grace her lips but he didn't return it. Instead, his gaze seemed to get more intense, if possible.

Suddenly, he gracefully got to his feet, imperious and imposing as ever. Alicia cut her reading short and raised an eyebrow in question.

"I'm going to find the trolley." His voice held no inquisitiveness as he posed his question, "Join me?"

It was a blatant excuse to get her alone. No matter how annoyed Lily was that he was basically ordering her around, she couldn't refuse him. She was just too curious. So with a carefully nonchalant shrug, she tried to match his grace while rising to her feet. Alicia shot her a borderline worried look but she ignored it and followed him to the door.

"Not that anyone thought to ask me," Felix called after them, "but be darlings and bring me a liquorice wand, will you?"

Then the door was closed and they were moving down the hallway.

They were shoulder to shoulder as Lily matched his leisured pace. Their hands brushed from time to time, making warmth spread through her as they reached the end of the train. The trolley lady was nowhere in sight.

She knew for a while that he'd been looking for an empty compartment. That notion coupled with the memory of the intense look in his eyes was enough to make her breath speed up in anticipation. Add in the 'innocent' brush of his hand on hers and she was downright _excited_.

Heat pooled low in her belly when he guided her inside the last compartment with a hand on her shoulder, then let it slide down until it rested low on her back. Very, very low.

Scorpius followed her inside and silenced the compartment before magically closing every curtain. A shiver ran down her spine when the lock clicked into place behind her.

"Are you all—"

Before he could speak any further, Lily reached for the hem of her hoodie and pulled it up and over her head and let it fall to the floor. She hadn't bothered with a shirt that morning. She saw the way his eyebrows shot up on his forehead and decided right then that surprise was a nice look on Scorpius Malfoy's face.

She wasn't in the mood to take things slow. She wasn't in the mood for talking, discussing or anything like that. She wasn't in the mood for foreplay even. So she wasted no time in pushing him down on one of the plush seats and straddling his legs. Her hands worked feverishly to get his cashmere jumper off and a frustrated grunt left her when it got stuck on his watch.

Scorpius thankfully seemed to sense her impatience so he quickly helped her divest himself from the offending piece of clothing while she leaned back a bit to make it easier for him. His mouth was suddenly on her neck, placing hot open mouthed kisses along the line of her throat as his warm hands snaked towards her bum to pull her closer and—oh.

He was as hot and ready as she was, apparently.

Lily moaned as she instinctively rocked against him, pleasure flooding her core as she seemed more of the delicious friction. Her hands shook from anticipation as she tried to open her fly and didn't get the job done nearly soon enough for her liking. She cursed when she realised the position wasn't exactly ideal for getting it off but was too far gone to care that Scorpius chuckled at her.

She got up and took her shoe, knickers and pants off as fast as she could without falling off and went back to his lap. Scorpius' mouth was immediately back on her and his hands were taking her bra away before she could even blink. Her own hands intertwined themselves on his blond strands when his lips closed around her nipple and sucked.

"Merlin," she panted, "yes."

It had been _so long_. She couldn't imagine ever going this long without having sex again. The pleasure cursing through her was dizzying in its intensity and she could barely wait for what was to come. So she didn't.

Lily slid her hands down his torso until she reached the waistline of his pants and freed him from his confines. He was hot and hard in her hands and she couldn't help giving him a few pumps. Scorpius exhaled forcefully and leaned his head back with his eyes half closed baring his throat and giving Lily the perfect opportunity to close her teeth around his adam's pome. He bucked into her hand in response and Lily found that she couldn't be a minute longer without him inside her.

She raised higher on her knees, with one hand levering herself on his shoulder while she guided him to her entrance with the other. With one smooth movement she quickly lowered herself on him. Scorpius let out a deep grunt that was almost drowned out by her moan as she stilled. He was filling her completely after so long and it was _heaven_.

Her nose bumped the underside of his chin as she panted into the feverish skin of his throat. Even though she had been wet before, there hadn't been any foreplay and his size was definitely above average so she stayed still for a few seconds as the slight twinge of pain abated. It didn't take long for her to be ready for more.

Scorpius' hands squeezed reflexively on her ass as she set a quick pace to satisfy herself. She started out only grinding on him, relishing the feel of his pelvic bone on her clit but it soon proved to be not enough, so she used both hands on his shoulders to help her move up and down on his cock. He moved one of his hands to her clit while the other helped her movements.

His mouth was hot on the skin of her neck and shoulders, alternating from sensual open mouthed kisses to bitting and sucking. Lily tilted her hips just so and increased her pace before moving her hands to his hair to pull his head back. She bit down on his throat again before sucking on the abused skin, and the choked off moan he gave was what sent her over the edge.

Scorpius kept her moving, even if slower, as waves and waves of pleasure crashed into her and it prolonged her orgasm while giving him what he needed to follow her. She continued grinding slowly before finally stopping.

Their breaths mingled as they panted hard, their foreheads leaning against each other. Little aftershocks were still making her inner muscles clench from time to time.

Lily released a low sigh, almost a moan when he guided her mouth to their first kiss in almost a month. His lips brushed hers once, twice, three times innocently before he nibbled on her lower lip and deepened the kiss.

She relaxed against him as her heart rate went back to normal. Scorpius' hands left her hips and glided up towards her face. He cupped her jaw as the slow sensual kiss faded to simple, innocent pecks.

"Are you really okay?" he murmured against her lips.

"Huh?" She was still kind of reeling from her orgasm and couldn't quite follow his line of thought.

"With Lottie," he clarified. "I brought you here to ask that."

Oh, right. That.

In all her lust haze she'd actually forgotten the decision she'd come to back in their compartment. She sighed, steeling herself for what was to come. Scorpius ran his hands though her hair and she suddenly felt ready.

He pulled lightly on the strands between his fingers to make her look at him and went on before she could say anything. "I wouldn't have accepted anything from her even if you weren't there"

She felt a smile tug on her lips. "I know," the smile had an uncomfortable edge now, "she's right, thought." The frown between his brows made her sigh. "This won't last."

"Lily—" he began and in the back of her mind she registered that this was the first time he called her by her first name. She couldn't back down or get distracted, though. Not now that she was certain in her decision.

"No, Scorpius," she interrupted him before he could continue, his name rolling easily in her tongue, "we need to be realistic here. You're not the type to have many girls at once, but you have to admit you get bored pretty fast."

"I'm not bored," he protested, the scowl even deeper now.

"Not _yet_ ," she countered, "but you will be. And that's _okay_."

His hands fell back to her hips, "Lily—"

"Listen to me," she interrupted him yet again and brought her hands to his ridiculously defined jawline, "I don't want to deal with the fallout when you do get bored. I want to keep this easiness between us because, well," she smiled sheepishly at him, "I quite like being your friend. I like the dynamics we have with Felix and Alicia…"

Lily trailed off uncertainly. She was kind of scared of how he'd react but she convinced herself that she was making the right call. The huff of laugh he released made a thousand pixies fly in a flurry inside her stomach.

"You know," he shot her one of his usual smirks, "no one has ever broken up with me before."

Lily grinned back at him. "This isn't a break up. We're just taking a step back and moving on as friends."

He raised an eyebrow at her, "You do realise I'm still inside you, right?"

She laughed embarrassedly and felt blood rush to her cheeks even as her eyes darkened in desire. It was as if a switch had been flicked and she could suddenly feel every inch of him against her, inside her.

She held a gasp back when she felt him twitch against her inner walls.

"Yeah," it came out breathier that she wanted it to, "I can see that."

"I don't think just friends are supposed to be inside each other," his smirk took a devilish turn as he gave a shallow thrust.

Lily did gasp this time. "I guess," she panted when he kept a rhythm of slow shallow thrusts, "we can agree to—ah!" she moaned when he unexpectedly went deeper, "to leave the train as just friends."

He kissed her deeply, moving his tongue past her lips and making her moan against his mouth.

"Good," he purred and Lily felt liquid heat rush between her legs in response. "We still have a couple of hours for a proper goodbye, then."

Safe to say they didn't leave that compartment at the end of the train until much later.

In her limited experience with sex, Lily had found out the wonders of makeup sex. Now, she thought it was safe to think that it had _absolutely nothing_ on breakup sex.

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 _There you go, you guys, the reunion. And then a breakup because authors are meant to make readers suffer. I hope you guys can see why I did this and no, it isn't to use their 'breakup' as plot device. It's about who Lily is. And let me tell you, she may be smart, but my Lily likes to stay in denial when it comes to relationships and most of all she is kind of insecure. One of the problems I see almost all the Weasley/Potter bunch having is connecting with people that are not family, kind of like Draco in the series. But I should stop ranting and just let my writing speak for itself. I gotta say, I'm pretty excited for what's to come. Expect some action and mystery in the future._

 _Love you all to bits! Thank you so much for the kind words of everyone who reviewed and also for those who favourited and followed!_

 _See you soon,_

 _~JulietteDeschemps_


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